Exit 33
Billy Graham Postcard (Given at visitation)
Billy Graham Booklet (Given at visitation)
Click on photos to enlarge**
I was watching television before the news cut on and a reporter announced, ‘Billy Graham is on his way home.’
Through my 24 (almost 25) years of life experience, it dawned on me after visiting my hometown and being greeted with new shopping centers among what seemed like experimental road patterns on familiar streets when I was 19, that construction much like change is always happening and never ending. This is especially true for areas encompassing universities or those nearby a metropolis. Amongst these densely populated municipals, there’s a pattern to their construction. There’s always a Main street. There will always be a First street, a Second street-which ironically is a more popular street name than First street according to the NLC-, and somewhere in between all the streets you can bet there will be a Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. No matter where you are, along the lines of local background there will be streets and buildings commonplace to your knowledge, although the history couldn’t be more unfamiliar.
Before the city opened new terminals for the Charlotte-Douglas airport off exit 32, I would get there by using exit 33 southbound on I-85, the Billy Graham Parkway. Billy Graham was a name familiar to me by mere association of the Charlotte-Douglas airport and exit 33. I did come across the name Billy Graham again one night while searching for weekend plans in the area. The Billy Graham Library is listed as one of Charlotte’s top sights when conducting a simple Google search. Still, I never made anything of it.
Earlier this week, during the 30-minute news segment break—interruption—from the Olympics, WCNC announced Billy Graham had passed. As ignorant as it sounds coming from a Charlottean for the past 7 years, I had no idea who Billy Graham was or what he did, nor had I ever entertained the possibility he may have still been alive.
Billy Graham was known to many as ‘America’s Pastor.’ He has met and advised every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. He began doing crusades in 1947. Crusades, named after medieval Christian forces that conquered Jerusalem, were large gatherings where Billy would preach the gospel and invite spectators to ask Jesus Christ to be their lord and savior. His largest crusade was at Central Park in New York City where officials estimated turnout to be well over 250,000. During my research, I saw photos of Billy Graham with the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At one point in time, they were fairly-close friends, so close Billy posted bail for Dr. King in 1963 during the Birmingham campaign when King was jailed. As history has become somewhat fascinating to me in recent years, my research went on and on and on into the late-night hours.
Being intrigued by history also means having an interest in the influence seen through sepia-tinted lenses. Billy Graham was not only a man with ground-breaking following, but he was a man that meant a lot to a lot. Included in those mentioned are notable figures that are celebrated in today’s society. He knew various world leaders and others who would end up shaping the landscape of life for those of us living currently. In fact, most if not all of the living presidents are expected to pay their respects to Billy Graham this upcoming week.
Billy Graham’s body is laying in repose in his childhood home in Charlotte, North Carolina. Visitation was open to the public for two days. I decided I would go visit. I left the house around 4:00pm. There were shuttles running from 2 parking lots as there was no parking on the premises due to funeral arrangements being made for Friday. Traffic was heavy on I-77 southbound which made the drive a bit longer than usual. I pulled into the Samaritan’s Purse parking lot around 5:00pm. To my surprise, there were a good number of parking spots open towards the back end. I parked and waited in line for 10 minutes in order to board the shuttle. It wasn’t as bad as I had expected it to be.
The shuttle got caught in rush hour traffic. It took 25 minutes or so to reach the Billy Graham Library via the Billy Graham Parkway. Upon pulling in, we were greeted by a humongous tent being erected for his funeral. Along the sides of the tent were various vans from local and national news outlets such as ABC and CBS. Once off the shuttle, I made my way to the library. There was an older man with a walker who couldn’t keep up with his family. His wife slowed down and began joking with him of how slow he was. He smiled and made a smart remark back to her leading me to believe the basis of marriage may lie in one’s ability to not take things personal. Entering the library was an experience. It’s a large building in the shape of a barnyard with a beautiful cross labeled on it in glass. Inside, there were restrooms, a faux robot cow, and an information center. Ushers greeted visitors and handed them a booklet on Billy Graham’s life with a postcard you could mail in for a free DVD in exchange for your thoughts on Billy Graham. I followed the crowd towards the back, past an eatery, and there were stations with pens where people signed their names. I signed a sheet and printed my name next to my signature. I walked out and joined hundreds of others in line to pay their respects.
It was a beautiful night, reminiscent of a crisp fall evening. The air was chilly enough to wear layers, the perfect kind of chill which wasn't enough to make standing in line feel uncomfortable. I killed time by reading the booklet I was handed 10 minutes earlier. When I finished reading, I was ¾ of the way to his house. I overheard the house is Billy Graham’s actual childhood home (not a replica) which was built in the 1920’s. One lady exclaimed this wasn’t the original location and that his house was taken down brick by brick and built brick by brick again in front of the Billy Graham Library. That’s insane. The price of nostalgia increases as time goes on.
I will never forget when I stepped in the house. It’s compact and miniature on the inside. There was a smell of vintage antiques which roamed the air. Pictures of Billy and others lined the walls. There was a gorgeous couch to the left. A few feet further and you could see a camera in the corner of the room, right above Billy Graham himself. The same Billy Graham who did large crusades on television, the same Billy Graham who bailed MLK out of jail. A lady told us Billy’s grandson was at the end in front of the house to shake hands. Everyone was so kind. I must’ve been thanked and blessed about 20 times from 20 different ushers during the duration of my visit. The vibe was more joyous than sad. As divisive as religion can be at times, it can equally be a cohesive force in bringing strangers together.
I must be honest with you, I couldn’t stop staring at his casket when it was my turn to view it. It was a simple, yet beautiful casket made of pine wood. There was a cross nailed to the top. I kept thinking of how wild this was. Billy’s body was under there, but Billy himself was not. Here he was laying in his childhood home, where he must’ve made an infinite amount of memories, as a memory himself to those of us living. Billy Graham was under that casket! Unreal. I thought to myself, his body is lying in there. That’s all that is left of him. He no longer exists in this physical world of ours. A bit mind blowing, huh. Sure, different people mean different things to different people, but it’s surreal yet humbling when another human being can mean so much to so many others, especially to those who mean a magnitude to different generations. What’s even more humbling is we’re all human. Because we are all human, it means none of us will be exempted from our death sentence. This is a bit morbid, but everyone you know will have to conclude their lives at some point in time. Even people you don’t know. The toddler who went viral on social media, the actor of your favorite character on your favorite television show, the kid you see riding bikes in your neighborhood; nobody can escape the nature of life and death. Although I hold scientific research and development in high regard, I try not to rule anything out. I’m not religious by any means, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t principles of different religions that are good to live by. That also doesn’t mean religion can’t be truth. How I look at it is we are all trying to figure things out, so we should accept as much as we can for there isn’t any one of us with all the answers. There’s not much comfort, if any, in the unknown. Billy gave hundreds of millions of people peace in his lifetime in dealing with the nature of life, which is a beautiful thing. I didn’t want to hold up the line, so I kept moving. I shook his grandson’s hand as he thanked me for coming and another gentleman said ‘God bless’ as I made my way back out into the evening.
I boarded the blue shuttle moments thereafter. I walked to the back of the bus and grabbed a window seat to think in solitude as life would blur for the next 15 minutes. Beliefs are as strong as truths to some, even some truths manifest from the strength of beliefs. Heaven is thought to be above the skies, yet we all know stars shine from afar above the clouds. There’s debate of Jesus’ skin tone or his origin, to which no one knows for sure, although many have come to know Jesus. Buddhists can trace their religion back to one person. Hindus believe in a various amount of divine powers including multiple Gods and Goddesses. Some people believe in nothing, others believe in that of a higher power, yet they are unable to pinpoint exactly what it is. We convince ourselves of truths yet to be proven false and theories yet to be debunked. All in all, our differences tell us we are more similar than we think. If it were up to me, beliefs would be subject to come true, meaning if you believed in heaven, then heaven would exist and you would go. If you believed in reincarnation, you would find salvation in lifetimes to come in exchange for strong beliefs and good deeds. If you believed in nothing, then there would be nothing. Billy Graham though, believed in something; that something was the idea of Jesus Christ and Heaven. I’m have no doubt Jesus welcomed him to his real home shortly after Billy left us last week.
We all have to go home someday, we all have our own exit 33. The positive in this is that we will get there safely, peacefully, and we will happily find our own truths destined to us through time and space.
I strongly believe in that.