In 2011 Malc was still working at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and was actively involved in the setting up of a Will Graham event in Essex called ‘Rock Thurrock.’ Will is the grandson of Billy Graham and had come over to the UK especially to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to young people in the Essex area.

Malc and I went along to the event and to hear Will speak, and took with us Iris, an elderly but very dear friend from our church. Iris said she would love to go to and hear Will speak, so we picked her up in our car and took her to what was going to be an early meeting, and picked up another friend Gary, on the way.

So off we all went to Thurrock. Iris remembered hearing Billy Graham speaking many years before in the UK and Iris had never seen Will Graham but she remembers going to hear Billy Graham speak at Harringay back to the 1950s and then again in the 1960s. Iris commented how much like his grandfather Will was, in the way he preached and so reminded Iris of Billy Graham when he visited and filled stadiums around the country.

And when I think back, I remember hearing Billy Graham speaking on the radio when he came to London in 1966. It was in the car when my Dad and I were taking my brother John back to South Ockendon hospital.  He spoke very well and it was clear that my dad was listening intently, and I remember thinking that Billy Graham sounded like a very nice man. I couldn’t have known that years later that man would play a part in my own Christian conversion and my own walk with Jesus.

When we drove through the gates of the hospital the interview was just about finished and my dad turned the radio off. As he stopped the car, he seemed quite sad as he opened the car rear door, took John's hand, and led him into the hospital. I was twelve at the time and looking back I believe my dad was deeply moved by Billy Graham’s comforting words that day, as he became quiet and very thoughtful as we drove through the grounds of the hospital where my brother was a resident. It wasn’t a very pleasant place with dark brown and quite foreboding looking buildings and as my dad took John inside, I think he was somewhat choked up. On the way home, my dad was not at all his normal talkative self and appeared tired.  I recall that same day we had already taken my younger brother Jim, back to St Elizabeth’s School where he was a resident earlier that afternoon.

I know the Lord loved my dad and was most likely telling him so, during the time we listened to Billy Graham speaking. The Lord understood all that my dad (and my mum) were going through and was just waiting for them to trust Him. My parents shed lots of tears together over the years with both John and Jim being so unwell (and me too for a while when I was younger), but the Lord brought them through they are both in Heaven now, along with Jim who also passed away in 2020. And in time, both John and I will bow the knee when the Lord calls His children out of this world, and John, who has no speech at all at right now, will then praise the Lord with his own lips. What a day that will be!

South Ockendon Hospital has since been pulled down and new apartments have been built on that site. All of the residents have been moved into proper housing, including John who lives in a lovely house down in New Romney, Kent near to the beach. I give all thanks and praise to the Lord for providing good and proper homes for those with learning disabilities who are now able to be much more a part of their communities instead of being locked away in Victorian Hospitals and other institutions as once they used to be.

And I give all thanks to the Lord for His sure and certain promises made clear for all to hear by Billy Graham and others like him who have faithfully led people to repent of sin and own the Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. God is certainly going to call out all who love His name – the church of Jesus Christ and take us all to that place that He has been preparing for us.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

 

You can know that assurance in your own heart.

Find out more right here.

 

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