Nobel

 It is not very often that one meets two famous people, who are also humble.  Generally speaking, a person has become famous because of a big ego.  I used to be like that.  My ego was as big as all outdoors.  Then, I became homeless, and my ego went away.  Any fame that I had went away, too.  Applause is a drug.  It can be very addictive.  But, as I have said before, fame is put upon you by others.  One cannot be inherently famous, unless one is born into a famous family.  One's work does not make you famous, unless someone notices you and declares you are famous.  Then, you say to yourself that you must be famous, because others praise you for your work.  The key is to not let it go to your head and do your work for the right reason.  The following two examples did their work to help others despite being famous to others.  

 The first example was Billy Graham.  In the summer of 1963, my father was leading a Sunday School conference at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly in North Carolina.  He did that sort of thing for a week, and our family vacations were often times centered around those conferences.  One afternoon, the phone rang in our motel room.  My father picked it up, and the voice on the other end was Billy Graham.  Daddy knew Dr. Graham from their work in religious circles.  He had called to invite us to his house that night for supper.  Billy lived close by to Ridgecrest.  Daddy said that he was leading a conference, and we couldn't come.  He asked Billy if we could come the next night, but he said no, because he was flying out the next day.  When Daddy hung up the phone and told us about the invite that he turned down, my mother and I were livid.  He had turned down a dinner invitation from BILLY GRAHAM!  How often does that come about?  The next summer, we were in Atlantic City for the Southern Baptist Convention.  Our vacation that summer consisted of Atlantic City, New York and the World's Fair, and then back down to Washington DC.  It was going to be more of a vacation than we had done in years.  Billy Graham was scheduled to speak at the convention.  After his speech, my father took me up front to meet Dr. Graham.  He looked like a giant to me, and I shook his hand.  Daddy told Billy that this meeting got him out of the doghouse after he botched the dinner invitation.  Both of them laughed about that.  Billy Graham was known all over the world.  He counseled Presidents of the United States.  He was made an honorary Knight by Queen Elizabeth.  He had many accolades.  And, he was very humble.  He did his work for the glory of God.  

 The second example was David Beasley.  He was the governor of South Carolina, when I met him.  The State House had been renovated, and they were having an open house for the citizens to see it.  The place was beautiful.  The Governor was receiving people outside of his office to shake hands.  When I got up to him, I shook his hand, and he was very cordial.  Then, my first impression was that he hadn't done an honest day's work in his life.  His hands were very smooth like a baby's bottom.  Contrary to his Lt. Governor who was a cattle farmer.  I shook his hand, and it was rough.  You could tell he was a worker.  So years later, David Beasley became the head of the United Nations World Food Program.  He traveled the world helping to feed the hungry in third world countries, and those countries ravaged by war.  In 2020, the WFP (under his leadership) won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Despite the fame that came with his jobs, he stayed humble as a devout Christian.  My first impression of Gov. Beasley was very wrong.  

 Both of these men did the work they were called to do.  Any fame that came with that work just rolled off of them.  More people should look at their lives and see that it is all about the work, and not about themselves.  Fame is fleeting.  The work will go on forever.