Every funeral I attend, I learn things about the one being remembered that I never knew. Even at Mom’s memorial service last September that was true.

I knew Billy Graham as a world-renowned evangelist, a powerful speaker, a man of God. I knew Billy Graham as a public person, a spiritual confidant to  every president from Eisenhower in the 1950’s to President Obama, a man who enjoyed the friendship of Pope John Paul II.

But I didn’t know the Billy Graham I learned about this week.

Although I didn’t attend his service, like many of you I watched snippets of his story throughout the week. I heard Franklin Graham, Ann Graham Lotz, and Ruth Graham all speak of their father at his memorial service.

Two stories especially caught my attention and introduced me to the Billy Graham I never knew. Both speak of Billy Graham as a man of great humility, a man who loved in the way he lived among his family and among those he ministered to.

“I was in prison and you came to me.”
Matthew 25:36

“Let brotherly love continue …
Remember those in prison, as though in prison with them,”
Hebrews 13:1, 3

Billy Graham was invited to speak at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the largest maximum security prison in the world, nick-named Angola after the plantation that originally occupied the land it is built on and the African country where the ancestors of many of the inmates  were born.

Mr. Graham learned that some of the hardened criminals, convicted murderers practiced the trade of crafting pine wood coffins and then lining them with Walmart mattress pads for fellow prisoners in need.

In 2006 Franklin Graham was visiting Angola, saw the coffins and decided to buy two of them for his parents. The cost was a little over $200.00 each. Billy and Ruth Graham were thrilled.

Both Billy and Franklin came to Angola not only with words of God’s love and the message of salvation, they also passed on the dignity God gives to each of his children by honoring their labor, their craftsmanship, and purchasing the coffins that the bodies of Billy and his wife Ruth would rest in.

His daughter Ruth shared one of her “Billy Graham” stories at her father’s  funeral.

Returning home in humiliation and shame knowing that her second marriage was a mistake and doomed to fail, Billy met her in the driveway. His first words to his very embarrassed daughter communicated the love and grace of God and his own love for his daughter. Click here to listen in Ruth’s own words. (4 minutes)

Welcome Home will forever have a deeper meaning for me.

“And he arose and came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him and felt compassion,
and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20

I am thankful for my more complete knowing of Billy Graham.