Irrecoverable Moment

“Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.” Col. 4:5

It was a few years ago at the Southern Baptist Convention that Frank Page, then president, related a story told by Billy Graham in which John F. Kennedy, before he was president, asked the evangelist if he believed in the Second Coming of Jesus. When Graham said he did, Kennedy asked him to tell him about it.

“And Billy Graham said he told him about why Jesus came the first time and what the Bible said about His coming the second time,” Page said. “He listened with such attention, and as they pulled up to the house, he said, ‘Does my church teach that?’ Graham said, ‘Well, they believe it in their creeds and in their confessions but don’t talk about it anymore.’”

Some time later, Graham attended a prayer breakfast with President Kennedy and afterward as they were waiting for their cars, Kennedy asked Graham if the two could have a talk. But Graham had the flu and needed to decline the president’s request and talk another time.

“And with a hesitancy in his face, the president said, ‘Yeah, yeah, that’d be okay Billy.’ Billy Graham said he went sick back to his hotel room and the president left in his car,” Page recounted. “And just a few weeks later he read and heard of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Billy Graham says it was what he believes was an irrecoverable moment. How he wished that he had talked to him that day because he will always remember that look in his face, that he wanted to talk about spiritual things.”

Page spoke a truth for every Christian when he said he believes his denomination is in such a moment, a crossroads where God is calling them to reexamine who they are, where they are, and what is the task ahead of them.

And that task is to tell the Good News of Christ to everyone who will listen. Don’t miss an opportunity. Be prepared when God opens a door, go through it, and by faith be obedient.