There were hushed tones and some voices cracking when the Minnesota House on Monday afternoon honored the late Reverend Billy Graham in a special resolution. One particularly poignant clause: “Whereas, Reverend Billy Graham stated — this is a quote — ‘Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive then than I am now. I will have just changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.'”
Before Reverend Graham’s funeral Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina, he will be accorded the rare tribute of lying in state in the Rotunda of the U-S Capitol (Wednesday and Thursday). Graham had strong ties to Minnesota dating back to the late 1940s.
Listen to more of the House resolution here: