Pictured above is my friend, Holly, with me last Sunday at our sons’ Baccalaureate Service minutes before Anne Graham Lotz spoke to the graduates and their guests. Holly works with Anne’s ministry. She invited her to be our speaker nearly one year ago. We were thrilled when she accepted. Holly and I were two of five people that had a ball spending the last year planning this event to worship Christ while honoring our seniors.

Anne stood tall and looked stunning in her bright pink suit, tanned skin, and silky-silvery hair. As she spoke I could not help but think how much she looked like her father, Billy Graham, and sounded like him, too! (pictured below is Anne with Holly’s precious family. God blessed our family with Holly’s years ago, as we are good friends, and our sons—Hunter below, and Alex pictured at end of blog—are good friends, too. Christian friends are such a blessing and support.)

My heart was filled to overflowing. We’d spent months of planning and anticipating this day to be held the Sunday before our sons’ graduation, and now here we were listening to Anne speak. It was such a joy, as was the time spent with my sisters in the Lord planning for that day.

We had all prayed and dedicated our service to Christ every time we met. Our last prayer before it was time to begin was with the five of us with Anne and her daughter Morrow, and a darling young minister. We all stood in a circle, held hands, and prayed for the seniors that would be participating in the service, for Anne, for those listening, and for God’s presence.

From the moment the soloist sang, “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in the Place,” I had a chill down my spine! We had students giving testimonies, reading scripture, and singing. One student, Justin, told of basketball neck injury he suffered in which he could have been paralyzed but wasn’t, and of a wreck he was later involved in.

Another student, Emily, told of her coming close to death, but getting a second chance after receiving a liver transplant. Several seniors sang, “Beautiful.”  Another senior, Bryant, played “Sheep May Safely Graze” on the piano. All was beautiful and honored God, and then it was time for Anne.

She spoke of growing up in Montreat, North Carolina, and of a wreck she had, leaving for her Baccalaureate as she spun down the mountain where they lived (driving her mother’s car). Her father was to speak at her Baccalaureate. She tried to hide the bashed-in car from them several times thinking she would tell him later.

She told us that her father was really not a very good father, and then warned us not to think she was “bashing Billy Graham!” She said that he never played a game with her, or tucked her into bed at night. But she said he taught her about God, and she wouldn’t trade that for anything. She told her own Baccalaureate crash story, because it showed how she learned of God’s character through her father.

She came into the house after the service, she hoped her dad was held up with the photographers and reporters who wanted pictures of Billy Graham. She had taken some friends home in the bashed-in car, glad he didn’t know about the car yet. As she came inside, she was  hoping not to see him but he was right there, staring at her in the doorway with his piercing blue eyes.

Suddenly, Anne burst into tears. She told him she had had a wreck. He said, “I know.” The woman she hit had come straight up the mountain, and told him. He hugged Anne and told her he was just waiting for her to tell him. He loved her, and the car could be fixed. He emphasized she would be a better driver after this.

Anne said her father showed her what God was like in four things she wanted us to remember when we are in a wreck. It could be a physical wreck like Justin, or it could be an emotional wreck because of our mistake, or what someone has done to us. I could hear several people crying, and one person behind me was on the verge of outright sobbing. Anne challenged us to remember:

1. 1.God is waiting for us to tell him what we have done wrong. He already knows about it.
   

2. 2.He loves us.
   

3. 3.It’s fixable because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross. He took on our sin, and paid the penalty for sin, and our sin is placed on him.
   

4. 4.We will be better because of this.
   

She reiterated God loves you. He loves you! He loves you—not the person in front of you, or behind you, but you. My eyes became moist, as I thought of God’s love for me! I hope that you know that He loves you, dear reader. Not someone else, but you! And nothing can separate us from His love!

“...I have loved you with an everlasting love...”

~Jeremiah 31:3

“...nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

~Romans 8:39

Above pictures were taken after the Baccalaureate Service with my son, Alex, whom I love very much! Graduation on Friday!

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