William Bordon

In 1887, William Bordon was born. He was heir of the extremely wealthy Bordon family, in Chicago. When he graduated from high school at 16, his parents gave him a trip around the world as a gift. While he traveled through various cultures and nations, he was struck by the pain and poverty he witnessed everywhere. He decided that his Savior was calling him to co-mission with Him to make an impact on the human needs he could affect. He wrote in the back of his Bible, “No reserves.” He gave his life entirely to Jesus.

In 1905, he started studies at Yale. By the end of his first year there, 150 students were gathering around him for Bible study and prayer. By the time of his graduation, 1,000 of the 1,300 students who were enrolled were meeting in groups for Bible study and prayer. Often he was in the streets of New Haven at night, evangelizing drunks. He started Yale Hope Mission to carry on this work, as well as ministries to widows and orphans after he left. When he graduated from Yale in 1909, he was offered positions with high salaries by corporations who had received reports about his time in the school. Sensing a call from the Spirit to evangelize Muslims in China, he refused the offers. He wrote in the back of his Bible 2 more words: “No retreats.”

In 1912, after graduate work at Princeton, William left the country to fulfil the call to China. As preparation, he went first to Egypt to study Arabic, so that he was well equipped to lead Muslims to Christ. During this study, at the age of 25, he contracted spinal meningitis. Before dying of this disease in 1913, he wrote in the back of his Bible, “No regrets.”

You are trading your life for something every day. Spend it so that, when you look back on it, you can say that what you got in trade was worth what it cost Jesus to give you life, and what it cost you to live it.