Rebel with a Cause

Franklin recalls childhood memories that are both happy and tainted. There are the warm memories of hunting and exploring with his father in the mountains around their home. But there are also the memories of the death threats targeting his father and the endless tourists who would peek in the windows of his family's house to get a glimpse of life in the Billy Graham household. By the time Franklin was a young man, he was running from God and from the public's high expectations of him as the oldest son of the best-known preacher of our time. His teen and young-adult years were marred by smoking, drinking, fighting, confrontations with the police, and eventually, expulsion from college. But finally, one night in a Middle East hotel room, God caught up with Franklin, and Graham's daredevil, destructive life was from that point forward transformed into a creative, God-glorifying adventure.