One of the central reasons for our recent travels was to attend our first cousin’s reunion. The last time many of us had seen each other was at our grandmother’s funeral in 1996, so to say it had been a while is certainly an understatement. As our adult lives were lived out hundreds of miles apart, we had gradually given up on ever getting together until my sister in cahoots with my cousin Katrina began lobbying to get us together. Before arriving at the restaurant for the first night of our reunion, my cousin Doug, who of all my cousins I knew the least, messaged me that he had something to give me privately after dinner. How surprised I was when he led me to his car and presented me with a small bag. “I think these belonged to our great grandmother and I figured you might like to have them.” Doug said.

On opening the bag, I found three aging hard cover books. by Billy Graham. “Wow, thanks Doug.” I said. “This is really amazing. “

“Yeah, and even better.” he added. “They are all signed by Billy Graham!” (Though it turned out only two of the three was signed.) Of course, I profusely thanked Doug, but somewhat forgot them until after returning home. While I was unpacking, I gently looked to find a good spot on the book shelf for these aging first edition books, but was so intrigued with the one named, “The Secret of Happiness.” that I took it out and began to read. What I thought was a rather innocuous subject about Christian happiness, actually turned out to be a wonderful exposition on the beatitudes and how they related to our modern age. Now you might think that a book written in 1955 would be terribly dated and have little to do with our 21st century culture. But I was surprised to discover that many of the same issues facing society back in the era of the idealized ’50’s were quite the same as today. This morning, I came across a paragraph from a chapter on Meekness that I found shockingly relevant to our headlines in August of 2025.

” This reversion to barbarism now effects whole areas of our social life. Neighbors quarrel with neighbors. Fighting is a major problem in our schools and the “gang wars” of the teenagers have come to present a serious menace in our cities. Fathers and mothers wrangle and bicker. Homes are disintegrating. High government officials in Washington engage in name-calling and in heated dispute, not at all in keeping with the dignity of their office.

Why and how has this savagery crept into our social life? It is because we have forgotten Jesus’s words, ‘ Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’ ” *

* Billy Graham, “The Secret of Happiness,” Doubleday and Co. 1955