By CAROLINE CARMICHAEL / Staff Writer

“The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first in heaven,” a cherished reverend is remembered saying.

On Feb. 21, 2018, Billy Graham, 99, drew his first breath of heaven.

I wasn’t there, but I can imagine the moment was more precious than any remembered on earth — especially for the Lord who welcomed him home.

Perhaps “Well done, good and faithful servant” would have been an immense understatement.

“He was a great man that did an amazing, amazing work in his time, and he will be missed,” Pastor John Williams of Clanton Church of Christ said.

With more than 70 years in ministry reaching millions of individuals worldwide with the message of Jesus Christ (according to billygraham.org), “faithful” may very well barely scratch the surface.

Well done, indeed! And that is glory to God.

Still, America has lost its pastor, and together with the world, it grieves.

In the words of Pastor Chad Keeteman of New Life Community Church in Clanton, “It’s a major loss for us — the body of Christ at-large — and he will be greatly missed.”

Graham once said, “God never takes away something from your life without replacing it with something better,” (emphasis added).

In Graham’s absence, there is still much to be done. It is up to Christians worldwide to continue the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ — while there are breaths to breathe upon this earth, to breathe Christ’s life and pour it back out in testimony of the salvation available through him alone.

It’s the better the world seeks, and it has always been the call of the Christian to share it.

Heaven is full of air to inhale the presence of God eternally. There’s plenty to go around. Speak his name, and share the air.