Billy Graham, Billy Clinton & the Last Crusade

First it was President George Bush holding hands with his good friend, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Today it was (former) President Bill Clinton holding hands with his good friend, the venerable Rev. Dr. Billy Graham.

Today's occasion was framed by the setting of a Billy Graham Crusade in New York....an event that may well prove to be Dr. Graham's final crusade appearance in the United States.

Clinton introduced Graham to a crowd estimated to be close to 80,000 people. He shared an anecdote concerning how impressed he was as a young boy when Billy Graham, scheduled to preach at a evangelism crusade in Arkansas, refused to speak because the event was segregated. As Clinton put it today, "I've loved him ever since. God bless you, friend."

I must confess that I am glad to see a senior member of the Democratic Party having something nice to say about an evangelical Christian. Hillary was at the event, too, but I do not believe she spoke on the dais as her husband did. This, I think, is to her credit.

It is also difficult to compare these two men:

One Bill worked his way up the political ladder to attain the highest office in the U.S. Government, serving for 8 years as the most powerful individual in the world.

The other Bill has done nothing much except tell people about Jesus Christ and then inviting them to receive him as their Lord and Savior.

For all his greatness, the first Bill will likely be remembered as only the second President to be impeached by the U.S. Congress...for attempting to cover up a sexual relationship with a White House intern by lying under oath.

For all his humility, the second Bill will likely be remembered as the preeminent American Christian evangelist of the 20th century; a friend of Kings, Queens, Presidents and Pope; a man polled repeatedly as the most respected man in America.

The first Bill, who was great, was made humble.

The second Bill, who was humble, was made great.

As Jesus once put it, "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."

All in all a moving witness to the sinner and the saint; the fallen and the redeemed; an example of what we should not be and an example what we should be; two people taken together forming a perfect illustration of the sort of multiple personalities at war within each one of us.

By God's wonderful providence, Billy Graham has lead more than a few Bill Clintons to the "throne of grace" during his 50+ years of personally practicing what he preached.

We are all better for having shared this world with the likes of Billy Graham. Bill Clinton would no doubt agree. It is somewhat ironic that, on that platform in New York today, it was a man who was once the most powerful person in the world who was looking up with admiration at a man who had never really had any power at all, except for a Bible and some Good News.