When asked what he’d do differently if he had the chance, Graham said he’d spend more time with his family.

“I’d study more and preach less,” he said. “I also would have steered clear of politics.”

To the end, Graham remains committed to evangelism: “Our calling is to declare Christ’s forgiveness and hope and transforming power to a world that does not know him or follow him. May we never forget this.”

President Obama meets with Billy Graham.

U.S. President Barack Obama met with 91-year-old Billy Graham today at the evangelist’s North Carolina home. It was Obama’s first meeting with Graham, who has met with every president back to Harry Truman. The two tried to meet back in 2008 during the presidential campaign but it never happened due to scheduling conflicts. It was also Graham’s first meeting with a president in his Montreat, N.C., home.

Graham presented Obama with two Bibles, one for him and one for his wife. The two also prayed for each other.

Like other presidents before him, Obama confided with Graham how lonely, demanding and humbling the presidency can be:

“That is a discussion that Mr. Graham has had with previous presidents who realize not only the demands but the loneliness of the job. And they’re humbled by that,” [Graham spokesman Larry] Ross said. “The only way one can do the job properly is to draw on spiritual resources.”

Graham and Obama spoke for about 35 minutes over coffee. The discussion included their wives, their past history in Chicago and golf.

“It was an honor having Governor Palin and her family in our home this evening. I, like many people, have been impressed with her strong commitment to her faith, to family and love of country. I appreciated hearing her speak of her own spiritual journey and her life in Alaska. I shared with her my own memories of preaching in the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage in 1984.

“We had an opportunity to pray together. Life in the spotlight is not easy and I pray that whatever lies ahead for this family that their faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, would remain strong and that God would put a hedge of protection around her and all those she holds dear. Sarah and her family will always be welcome in the Graham home.”

Sarah Palin is also featured on BillyGraham.org talking about facing challenges, her faith and the experience of meeting Billy Graham.

This encounter does at least add some substance to the previous comments about Palin attributed to Graham.

“He struggles a little bit, I think, with a sense of purpose,” Lotz said.

On a positive note, she does add that he’s clear-minded, quick to pray about current events and deeply misses his late wife, Ruth Bell Graham who died in 2007.

You can still find vestiges of the teen site here. Of course none of the links work and the content has been largely pulled into Dare to Be a Daniel or dumped. But that’s OK. That’s the way of these things. Before Dare to Be a Daniel there was passageway.org. Before passageway.org there was Alive.

If I sound a little nostalgic, it’s because I worked on passageway.org for two years. Good times.

Now it seems the passageway.org url and name are being reused for a children’s curriculum series. The place holder graphic looks like Billy Graham meets Disney. Yikes.

What’s perhaps most interesting are the edits Graham makes to Edwards’ sermon. Graham focuses more on mercy and grace, he brings up Jesus sooner and more often, and he gives more of an Arminian slant on God’s will than Edward’s Calvinist take.

That hand-written poem is on display at the Billy Graham Library:

“The journey from father to friend
is all paternal loves end.
it was sung in my teenage ears
in the voice of a preacher
loudly soft on my tears
I would never forget this
melody line
or its lyric voice that gave my life
a rhyme,
a meaning, that wasn’t there before.
a child, born in dung and straw
with The Fathers love and desire to explain
how we might get on with each other again….”

for The Rev. Billy Graham (that preacher)
Ruth and all the Graham Family
from Bono (March 11 2002)
with much love and respect….

(Special thanks to John Schroter for taking the photo and jotting down the words.)