PODCAST
Leaving A Legacy
May 8th, 2016
Psalm 78:1-8
William Borden was born in 1887 to a Chicago family who made their wealth in mining. He was converted under the preaching of R. A. Torrey at the Chicago Avenue Church, which kindled in him a lifelong passion for Bible study and prayer. Shunning wealth and prestige, he felt God’s call to missionary work among the Muslims in northern China. He traveled to Cairo for training without his father’s blessing. While there, he worked and shared his love of the Lord with the Egyptian people, but became seriously ill. He died of cerebral meningitis at the age of 25.
After his death, Borden’s Bible was given to his parents. In it they found the words “No Reserve” and a date written shortly after he had renounced his fortune. At a later point, he had written “No Retreat”; it was dated shortly after his father told him that he would never let him work in the company again. Shortly before he died in Egypt, he added the phrase, “No Regrets.”
While in college he made this entry in his personal journal: “Say ‘no’ to self and ‘yes’ to Jesus every time.”*
* Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Whiting_Borden and http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/regret.htm (Accessed March 2015).
Author: Derl G. Keefer
