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Show Family Weekly December 20, 1964 - . ; til - n ' ; " n Lnnstmases. Never Forget LJL The famous evangelist recalls those memorable yuletides when his faith was strengthened by dramatic events . . v' I . V ($ - PS -- ii - . .' ' "... . i By BILLY GRAHAM as told to Curtis Mitchell the world is being illuminated by the light of the Christmas star. Once more, thousands of per- O NCE AGAIN, sons are hearing, by faith, the distant melodies of heaven and are beholding the lovely starof Bethlehem. The Biblical record says of the Wise Menr "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." . And so do we all. As I rejoice, the Christmas star which I see in fancy radiates three silvery beams. One beam points aloft into the heavens. One beam spreads its arms to either side. And one beam points downward. These three beams have a special meaning for me. They recall three Christmases during which my faith was tested and deepened. . The ray that points upward I call the ray of purposef ulness. The first men to follow it were the Wise Men. The Gospel of Matthew says, "Lo, the star . . . went before them till it came and stood where the young child was. "Ana' so has; everyone who has caught the vision of the bright star of Christmas. Call the roll of history's great men Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln; their lives were wandering or derelict until they beheld the Christmas star and the One ta whom it led. . I recall a Christmas during my youth when I Family Weekly, December to, 1964 was confused and without purpose. Like our modern society, I was drifting along without I had enrolled chart or compass. As a teen-age- r, ,in 'a college but found that it failed to satisfy my needs. Learning that I planned to withdraw, the president called me to his office and urged me to finish my year. I told him that I would not return after the Christmas holidays. "If youcan'tmake good here," the college able to president warned mer "you'll never-'b- e make good anywhere." No boy was ever more discouraged than I was chums during that yule season. My high-schocame home to report their own glowing successes. I was an obvious misfit. In our home near Charlotte, N.C., we always Jived close to the Bible. On Christmas Day, we read again the wonderful torynof the birth of. Jesus and of the greatlight-tha- t gleamed before the Wise Men, and I wondered whether I would ever find a star of my own which I could follow. Unexpectedly, a friend who knew of my spiritual confusion and discouragement wrote from a distant Southern school He said his teachers were Christians ;of great heart and greater faith.-"Co-me join me," he invited. A few days later, I enrolled at the Florida Bible Institute near Tampa. And presently I was no longer adrift In that dedicated institution, I found a star that I could follow, and I have followed it ever since. Without direction, life is a useless thing. With vital, personal faith in Jesus Christ, the , soul ( . ol takes a new direction as it seeks higher goals. Pursuing those ends, we are drawn closer to God, born anew, and so empowered to live in the way prescribed by Jesus. The second ray from' my Christmas star thrusts outward like two distant arms. I call this the ray of sharing. God has given us two hahllsTonewithhi to give. The Bible says of the Wise Men, "They presented unto rHim gif tsofbld "arid franking cense and myrrh," We are not cisterns created for hoarding; we are channels for sharing. God has made this a privilege and a duty. A Request to a Stranger Christmas season in Ireland first taught me how much some men cherish this right. A At-t- he long-ag- o beginning-- of rows and I were conducting youth meetings in the British Isles. In Dublin, I became sick and could not leave my bed, so Cliff not only led the singing but also had to preach every sermon. Worse, we were at the end of our finances. Discouraged and bewildered, we asked, each other, "What shall we do?" Cliff and Billie, his wife, and I turned to God. In the midst of a prayer, the name of a Christian businessman back home .popped into my, mind. I did not know him, but I recalled that he had given to many worthy causes. We composed a simple letter explaining. our mission to British youth and bur need for $ 7,000 with which to complete it. It seemed a huge sum to ask for. ; |