Pastor's Corner: Franklin Graham: A forecast full of promise

The forecast for Aug. 9 was bleak as a group of us from Havre planned to attend the Franklin Graham Prayer Rally in Helena. However, we left Havre under sunny skies and found ourselves at noon standing in the shadow of the state capital under perfect conditions.

We, along with 2,700 other Christians, had come to Helena to hear Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, speak. Mr. Graham is on a 50-state tour of America  speaking in front of each of the state capital buildings. His goal is to pray at each capital by the end of October. Thousands come out at each event because they believe prayer changes things.

Mr. Graham did not disappoint. The event began with world-class guitarist Dennis Agajanian, encouraging us with well chosen songs. Then Mr. Graham shared the story of Nehemiah from the Bible. Nehemiah was a man who prayed when his country was at a low point and God answered his prayers. Based on this story, Mr. Graham had us pray about the sins of our nation, the sins of our ancestry, and our personal sins. The crowd was in agreement that America needs spiritual revival and revival begins with repentance.

Then Mr. Graham encouraged us with words from his father that it is the duty of Christian Americans to vote. Even if we don't like the candidates, we need to vote for the one who best supports Christian values. f we don't vote we can't complain about the results. Mr. Graham encouraged us further to become involved in the politics of our communities. As Christians, we need to be part of school boards and city councils and higher offices. It is our responsibility to be the voice of the church in America.

There is a sense within the Graham organization that God is preparing to do something in America akin to the Great Awakenings of the past. Those 2,700 people prayed August 9 for that to happen. And I hope thousands more who didn't attend the rally will be praying until it does. And, as if to let us know that He is watching, as the rally ended the skies grew increasingly dark with clouds. Soon it was raining hard, then hailing. We left Helena just ahead of the storm. Some may call it coincidence but, though the weather forecast was bleak, the spiritual forecast was full of promise.