Billy Graham turning 90

Billy Graham turns 90 on Friday, and on the eve of his birthday, the Charlotte Observer's Tim Funk takes a look at how the much-loved evangelist is spending his waning days. An excerpt:

"Like so many others battling old age, the Charlotte-born Graham tires easily, naps often, is sometimes lonely and has great difficulty hearing. In conversation, his responses aren't as quick as they once were. Macular degeneration is slowly stealing his sight, denying him one of the chief pleasures of his life: reading the Bible. A widower for more than a year, he still grieves daily, even hourly, for Ruth, his wife of nearly 64 years and the woman whose picture brightens the rooms in the house she designed and decorated. But for all the loss, those around Graham say his mind remains sharp, his memory strong. And like the young preacher whose calendar was ever-full, the elderly Graham still prefers to focus on the future: on that day he'll see Ruth again in heaven and finally get to gaze on the face of Jesus, who he has served faithfully since his conversion at a Charlotte revival in 1934. 'I've discovered that just because we'll inevitably grow weaker physically as we get older, it doesn't mean we must grow weaker spiritually,' Graham, still the evangelist, said in response to questions e-mailed by the Observer. 'Our eyes ought to be on eternity and heaven – on the things that really matter.'"

(Photo above was taken by UPI in 1973 in St. Paul, Minnesota.)