Baseball, Rebellion, and the Making of Billy Graham

Ever wonder how childhood rebellion transforms into steadfast faith? The journey of Billy Graham offers a powerful dose of hope for anyone concerned about raising faithful children in today's challenging world.
As he was growing up, young William Franklin Graham was just a baseball-obsessed boy who despised everything about church. He couldn't stand the stillness required during services, hated missing baseball games with friends, and openly mocked preachers at summer Bible camp. In fact, young Will frequently declared there were two professions he would absolutely never pursue – preacher and mortician – as both seemed too focused on the afterlife when there was so much living to be done.
The key insight for parents today lies in understanding that  truth properly planted remains, waiting for the right season to flourish. Don't live in fear of what your children will face in an increasingly secular world. Instead, focus on equipping them with the truth that will sustain them when they're ready to embrace it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with
Danny Mac.
I'm going to be here everyMonday to Friday to help you get
a great five-minute start toyour day.
So grab your cup of coffee, sitback, relax and let me help you
start your day right.
Good morning, everybody.
It's good to have you here withme today, and today I want to

(00:27):
talk about our children and ourgrandchildren.
When we see what's happeningaround us in our world every day
, it's really not unexpectedthat we would find ourselves
being concerned about what theworld will be like for them.
How can they ever build arelationship with God and stay
on track with it in the worldthat they face today, which is
in so many ways anti-God?

(00:48):
But let me encourage you thismorning that, instead of being
overwhelmed with the fear ofwhat might happen, let's take a
hold of what God's Wordencourages us with, and that's
to teach our children, to raisethem up in the way that they
should go, because when they getold, they will not depart from
it.
I want to tell you a storytoday about a young man who

(01:10):
experienced that he was broughtup in the way that he should go,
and he rebelled against it sostrongly, and yet in the end
it's the way that saved him.
Listen, you will enjoy it.
It seems there was once a youngman by the name of Will Franklin
.
He grew up hating church andabsolutely everything about

(01:31):
church.
He loved almost everything elsein life, but to him church was
nothing that he wanted to be apart of.
His earliest memories werefilled with the torture of going
to church every Sunday, havingto sit there quietly and
behaving through the service.
He just couldn't stand it andhe hated everything about it.
He hated the preaching, hehated the music, he hated
sitting there and he hated notbeing able to go and play

(01:53):
baseball with his friends,because that was one of his
favorite things to do.
In fact, will wanted to be aprofessional baseball player.
It's been said about him that,until he discovered girls,
baseball was Will's entire life.
Apparently, will's childhoodwould have been completely
carefree if it wasn't for onething, and that was his mother

(02:14):
always wanting him to go tochurch.
Will's mother went to churchevery time the doors were open
and she expected him to comewith her.
She wanted him to build arelationship with the pastor and
with the other people of thechurch, but Will would have
nothing to do with it.
Will's family grew concernedabout him so they decided to
send him to a summer Bible camp.

(02:35):
Will didn't want to go.
In fact he did everythingpossible to keep from going, but
finally his father laid downthe law.
Will was going to the Biblecamp, so he reluctantly agreed
to go, but he made it very clearthat he was not going to like
it.
To relieve his boredom while atcamp, will would often gather

(02:55):
friends around him and mock thepreachers who had been speaking.
He would make fun of theirstyles and their tone of voice
and how they would thump on thepulpit.
He often said that there weretwo occupations that he would
never fulfill.
One was being a preacher andthe other was a mortician.
Both seemed to be pushingeverybody into the next life and
there was too much in this lifeto enjoy, like drag racing his

(03:16):
father's car, which he did onenight for a total of 300 miles.
And then there was baseball.
He absolutely loved baseball.
Everybody said what a shame.
He was basically a nice youngman but so defined when it came
to the important things likechurch.
Will absolutely hated churchand anything to do with the

(03:39):
ministry.
You know, it's really kind offunny how the Lord doesn't seem
to care about our background,because if he wants you, he's
got you, and for the rest of hislife.
Will would certainly agree thatas a boy, he was really nothing
special.
He was just one of thousands ofyoungsters at the time who were
trying to race Babe Ruth intothe Hall of Fame.

(04:01):
He was a youngster who'd madeup his mind that he would do
anything but preach.
He was just an average youngfellow who knew exactly what he
wanted.
He wanted to be a baseballplayer and, by the way, this
baseball player's full name isWilliam Franklin Graham, better
known to most of us as BillyGraham.

(04:22):
Yes, that, billy Graham.
The verse I referred to at thebeginning of this podcast is
found in Proverbs, chapter 22and verse 6.
It says direct your child ontothe right path, and when they
are older, they will not leaveit.
One of the things that we needto remember is that there may be

(04:42):
a time between when they areour children and when they get
older.
There may be a time ofrebellion or a time of wandering
or just simply a time when weare very afraid for them and
what's happening in their lives.
But God's promise is that if weteach them, if we direct them,
if we pour into their lives whenthey're young, that when they

(05:03):
get older they'll realize thetruth and they will come back to
him, and then God can do someamazing things in their life.
Maybe not to the scale ofpublic impact of Billy Graham,
but certainly to the scale ofthe change within the heart and
the life of the person.
That's what truth planted intochildren can do person.

(05:27):
That's what truth planted intochildren can do.
Don't live in fear for whatyour children will face, but
give them boldness and strengthto hang on to the truth, no
matter what they face, and Godwill be with them.
Have a great day, my friends.
We will talk again tomorrow.
Thank you for joining us today,and I invite you to join us
every Monday to Friday, righthere at Starting Right, with

(05:47):
Danny Mac.