From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

 

Dear Rev. Graham: Do prayers of the saints live on after they have died? – P.L.

 

Dear P.L.: An auction took place at a sheep ranch in South Africa. The farmer had lived a lonely life after the death of his wife. The son of his old age had rebelled and left home to find his fortune, ignoring his father’s promise that someday all he had would belong to the son.“Consider me dead,” the son told his father. He wanted no part of it. When the farmer died, his belongings were auctioned. When the auctioneer lifted up an old framed picture, a young man stepped forward and offered a few dollars for it. A woman then stepped forward to offer more. The young man was dismayed.

He approached the woman and asked why she would pay so much for a picture that had no value. “I didn’t buy it for the picture,” she said, “but the frame has great value.” She asked why the tears in his eyes. He answered, “The frame means nothing to me – it’s the picture of my father. The boy with him is the son who deserted him – I am that son. I rejected my father’s love, but I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to live up to his good name.”

The woman removed the picture from the frame and handed it to him. As she did, an envelope slipped out. She opened and read it to him. “If you return to me, my son, my prayers will be answered. I give you the rewards of my labor, which will provide for your needs. Signed, your loving father.” Inside was a bank draft carrying his name.

Tears streamed down the young man’s face. The woman said, “Go and live a life worthy of your father’s name.” The father’s prayers had not been in vain.

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)