One of my nieces recently shared how an unexpected stop gave
her an opportunity to visit a special location, Billy Graham Library. This
brought back memories of my taking advantage of attending a conference in Minneapolis
MN in 2000. Before the event exploring the history of my great grandfather,
William Bell Riley (1861 – 1947). He was a relative I had not even really known
existed until just about a year prior. You know how families are. Let me tie
these two events together. WB Riley was a well-known Baptist minister sometimes
called “The Grand Old Man of Fundamentalism”. He was also involved in the
famous Scopes trial. Not offering any opinion, just reporting history.
David and I were able to have quite a tour of the church, as
well as attend a service, tour the school that Riley had established and meet
folks that had known WB. An added bonus was we got permission to park in the church
parking lot while attending our event. But the significance and connection of
these two highly popular famous renown men was the story we were told when we
visited the log cabin former home of Riley. We got introduced to the couple
that were members of the congregation and had purchased the Riley home. Log
cabin, yes, but not small hunting cabin, it was a beautiful well-appointed
home. This couple invited us to visit. They gave us a tour of the house and
yard and stories of Riley’s works and influence during the times. The WPA Riley
assisted by not only having them build his beautiful stone fireplace, which
will be important in a moment; also established a sort of men’s recovery home.
David and I learned and experienced much more that I won’t go into now.
On with the story. In the living room two chairs sat beside
the fireplace, this was a large stone fireplace, made from nearby river rocks.
As the story goes, Riley was aging and wanted someone to replace him as head of
the 3 educational institutions; a seminary; Bible institute and college. Billy
Graham (1918-2018) was meeting with him to discuss this. Graham was not really eager
to be running the school, he wanted to travel and preach. Actually, much as
Riley had done. The two men knelt at the hearth and prayed about this. Well,
Graham did become president in 1948 at 29 years of age. He was president of NW
Bible College for the next 4 years. The school is still going strong by the
way. Graham also has done his share of book
writing and all I remember is that my grandfather’s influence is in chapter 7
of one book.
As I mentioned earlier there was a whole lot more to this
particular stop on our journey. It’s possible some aspects might be in earlier
blogs. Or not. However, it was an impactful visit for both of us. These men’s biographies
would both be worth a read. Another lesson is to always be open to what
adventure might be right in front of you. Don’t forget to stop and look around;
you may be surprised what you may discover.
Here’s the latest new adventure I’ve had. Since traveling
and groups meeting is not really occurring, Widowed Village has like many
others gone to zoom meetings. I’ve done a few. I found them more helpful in the
beginning of my widowhood. However, they sent me an email about a different
style of meeting, a social zoom night. So taking my own advice, I gave it a
try. It was a great experience, different and fun. First, we did Two Truths and
a Lie. As you might guess, each of us told two true stories and one fib. The
host posted a voting page; we voted; then usually laughed as we learned how far
off, we were or weren’t. Since most of us have been meeting weekly on zoom we know
most of us a bit. It was a great ice breaker. We then did an art project, individually which
were then “stitched” together to create one picture. It made for a great
Saturday night.
I’ve been trying to post the finished group art project. Not
successful yet, maybe I’ll have to give it its own post. Signing off for now.
What new adventure have you explored?
