An Emotional Experience

by Dale Harcombe | More from this Blogger

23 Feb 2009 07:24 PM

Last week I watched the Compass program - Billy Graham Down Under. It was an emotional experience and one that brought back memories. I was a child who went forward in that Sydney crusade. Strangely enough I could not remember that much about the events. I remembered Billy Graham giving the call to commit to Jesus. My friend and I both looked at each other and got up and walked without a word. I remembered more the emotion of the time. We were two of the 57,000 people who responded.

The Archbishop of Sydney who was a 15 year old who went forward at the Sydney crusade said, 'You can't become a Christian without some from of emotion, just as you can't fall in love without emotion.'

As I watched the program I seemed to remember a few more details, like that we were seated upstairs and we had to edge past my friend's parents and others before turning right to walk down the front.

I also remember the 1979 crusade. It happened at a difficult time in my life but I was determined to be there. My husband and I were counselors to some of the children who came forward at that crusade.

Why doesn't God raise up someone like Billy Graham now?' my daughter asked the other night when we ere talking about it on the phone. Only God knows the answer to that,

In the Melbourne crusade, more often the home of Australia sporting events like the football grand final which often gets 100,000 people. Mick and I along with our daughter, were part of that in 2005 and it was an amazing experience. But imagine having 143,000 people together to hear the gospel message proclaimed. That would be even more awesome. Billy Graham said at the time of that 59 crusade on March 15, 1959 that it was 'possibly the largest crowd in any stadium anywhere in the world.'

When we see the effect of that crusade had on so many lives we can only wonder about God's plans. But then after the last prophet Malachi and the time when the promised Savior Jesus was born there was a silence of 430 years.Why? Because people weren't listening and they certainly weren't obeying God but instead going their own way. It sounds rather like today's society doesn't it?

If we expect God to speak to us then we've got to be listening when He does. The alternative of silence is, for me, to awful to contemplate. Is it for you?

I'd love to hear from any of you who made a commitment at a Billy Graham crusade, especially any fellow Aussies out there who did.

Please visit these related blogs

Do You Value What You Have?

What really Matters

Are You Letting God Speak to You?

Learn more about Dale Harcombe

Dale has a passion for books and writing. She writes in various forms, from articles to poetry to fiction for children and adults.

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