Former president George W. Bush admitted in a recent interview that he was drunk when he met evangelist Billy Graham. “I was listening to Billy through the haze of alcohol,” he told Focus on the Family president Jim Daly.

The interview, which took place in Dallas last week, was broadcast on the ministry’s daily radio program on Monday and Tuesday. It was one of many interviews the former president has been granting to promote his memoir Decision Points. But in the Focus on the Family interview, Bush opened up more about his faith and his family.

It was in Maine where former president George H. W. Bush invited the entire Bush family to meet Graham. The evangelist was answering questions, the younger Bush recalled, adding that he had drunk possibly four beers and five wines before the meeting.

“The next day, Billy and I are walking in mother and dad’s beautiful yard there in Maine and we start talking about religion,” Bush said in the interview. “And I was obviously looking, yearning for something different with my life. Billy sent me a Bible and I started reading the Bible.

“But it took me a while to understand that religion is not a course in self-improvement. Religion is a surrender – that you allow a living God into your life by surrendering to that living God. And then you improve to please God, not please yourself.”

Today, Bush – who has not had a sip of alcohol since 1986 – credits Graham for “plant[ing] the seed” in his life.

Read More: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101215/bush-religion-is-not-a-course-in-self-improvement/