Last Sunday, as I preached two services at the Cove Church in North Carolina, I told the story of an amazing chain of events beginning in the 1800s, when a Sunday school teacher named Ed Kimball led young D.L. Moody to Christ. Successive conversions involving F.B. Meyer, J.W. Chapman, Billy Sunday, and Mordecai Ham culminated, in 1934, with a gangly teenager—Billy Graham—coming forward at a revival meeting in Charlotte. Billy Graham is Ed Kimball’s great-great-great grandson in the faith.

Billy Graham, Reneé, and Rich (Brian Sytsma/WV)

This week I had the great privilege of shaking the hand of this 92-year-old giant of the faith when I met with him in his hotel room in Charlotte before he attended the 60th anniversary dinner of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I shook the hand of a man sought out by 10 presidents and countless world leaders for advice. He is the same man who preached the good news of Jesus Christ to more people than anyone in history and did so with passion, humility, and integrity. He is a towering world figure who dominated the latter half of the 20th century as one of the most admired men in the world.

Yet Billy Graham would disagree with all of those descriptors, because he has never believed that he was anything more than an ordinary man whom God chose to use for His great purposes. He would assert that it is God who is great, not this farm boy from North Carolina. The Bible that Billy Graham held in his hand at every one of his crusades would agree; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth, Esther, Moses, David, Peter, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Mary were all ordinary people whom God chose to build His kingdom.

What an encouragement to all of us. You may be a factory worker, a homemaker, a teacher, a fireman, or an accountant—but God wants to use you as well. All he asks is that, like Billy Graham or his many faithful predecessors, you would be willing to say, “Here I am Lord, use me.”

P.S. Listen to my message at the Cove Church here.

I’m saddened by the sudden passing of a colleague, who died last weekend of illness. No matter how often death comes in a community, it’s always a shock. It bluntly reminds us how fleeting life can be.

Especially at times like this, I wonder, how does an atheist get through the loss of a loved one?  How does a person without faith in God wake up in the morning and keep going after such a tragedy? What is there to hope for, if you believe that all we are is a random act of chemistry, ending when the body expires?

(Jon Warren/World Vision)

How much better it is to know that your Creator grieves with you and promises to “wipe every tear” (Revelation 21:4). Scripture provides such comfort, so much hope. At my colleague’s memorial service at World Vision, we clung to such verses as John 14:1-3, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am, and 1 Corinthians 15:53-57, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Because of faith we can face the death of a loved one with some measure of celebration as we appreciate how the person fulfilled his or her God-given purpose, leaving a unique legacy as a co-laborer in Christ. It is a tremendous gift for those of us left behind to look back on a life well-lived and know that our beloved is in the arms of God, welcomed with the words “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

I’m not suggesting that grief is easily shrugged off even for those of us who believe. But I can’t imagine living without the hope we find in Jesus, who turned death into life.

What comforts you in the midst of loss?

When I addressed World Vision employees this week, I encouraged their efforts in the past fiscal year with the story from Mark chapter 2 about the healing of the paralytic man. I think this Scripture is also a great encouragement to others—including you—who remain faithful in serving the poor.

Likely you know the story: The group of people carrying the paralyzed man are determined to get help for him, because they know Jesus heals. When they can’t get through the crowd, their workaround is to haul the man and his stretcher up to the roof and lower him down into the house where Jesus is teaching. It requires teamwork and persistence. And it pays off: Jesus heals the man completely—of sin and sickness.

When you send donations to help impoverished families, sponsor a child, take a church missions trip, or volunteer at a soup kitchen, you’re among those heroic helpers. You are connecting a person in need with God’s love and grace. Most of the time, these acts of service aren’t easy. Sometimes you have to change your tactics. And often, the best efforts involve working with other people. But it’s all worth it, if in the end that person—whether in another country or down the block—lands in front of Jesus.

Be encouraged for what you’re doing to love your neighbor. Countless millions in the world today need more than physical healing; they need the abiding grace of Jesus Christ. And it is our great privilege to be Christ’s ambassadors, allowing God to use us and make His appeal through us.