I first heard the story of William Borden during a service this summer at Kaleo. I then read about it again in Steve Shadrach's book "Brown Like Coffee." It's a little long, but I just have to share it.
In 1904 young William Borden graduated from a high school in Chicago. As heir to the Borden Dairy fortune, he was already worth millions. As a graduation present, his parents gave the 16-year-old Borden a trip to sail around the world. As he traveled through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, he sensed a growing burden to reach the lost in nations cut off from the gospel. Finally, Borden wrote home to his parents, expressing, "I'm going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." One of his friends was completely shocked, letting Borden know he felt he was "throwing himself away as a missionary." When Borden heard that, he wrote two words in the front of his Bible:
"No reserves."
Even though Borden was fabulously wealthy, he arrived at Yale University in 1905, attempting to appear like any other freshman student. But soon, his classmates noticed something unique about Borden. One of them wrote: "He came to college far ahead, spiritually, of any of us. He had already given his heart in full surrender to Christ. We learned to lean on him and find in him a strength that was solid as a rock, just because of this settled purpose and consecration." An entry in Borden's journal explained what the other students were seeing in his life. It simply said:
"Say 'no' to self and 'yes' to Jesus every time."
During his first year at Yale, Borden started something that impacted the entire campus for Christ. He challenged a friend to pray with him before breakfast each day, and soon a second joined them, and a third, and a fourth, and others. One of the participants explained, "William would read to us from the Bible, show us something that God had promised, and then proceed to claim the promise with assurance." By the end of his first year, 150 freshmen were meeting for prayer and Bible study each week in small groups. By the time Borden was a senior, 1000 of Yale's 1,300 students were gathering every week for this purpose. He had divided the classes up into smaller groups and assigned key student leaders to reach out and witness to a certain number, with a goal of extending salvation to every student. Borden and his leaders would go over every name and ask, "Who will take this student?" When the name of a hardened or "incorrigible" student came up and no one wanted to take them on, Borden would chime in by saying, "Put him down to me." Young Borden's ministry extended beyond Yale, as he sought to help widows, orphans, cripples, and drunks in the area, forming the Yale Hope Mission.
Borden felt the missionary call to reach out to one of the hardest to reach people groups of all, the Muslim Kansu in China. Once that goal was in sight, Borden never questioned his destiny and consistently challenged his classmates to consider missionary service, even hosting a huge student missionary conference at Yale. Even thought Borden was very involved on campus and served as President of Phi Beta Kappa there at Yale, he chose not to join a fraternity. One student said, "Although he was a millionaire, William seemed to realize always that he must be about his Father's business, and not wasting time in the pursuit of amusement." He never even owned an automobile, and when others asked why, he would casually respond, "Because I can't afford one." But during his undergraduate years at Yale he gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to Christian ministries. Once he graduated, Borden turned down several lucrative career opportunities. After one especially tempting job offer, he went home and wrote two more words in his Bible:
"No retreats."
Borden instead went on to complete a masters degree at Princeton Seminary, and then newspapers across the nation published articles about this young millionaire who raised his own support to go to China as a missionary. It was 1913 and the entire country was fascinated by this wealthy and gifted young man who turned his back on affluence and comfort in America to risk everything and go to China. On his way there, he stopped first in Cairo, Egypt to study Arabic because he was going to be reaching out to Muslims in China. While there, he contracted spinal meningitis and died a few weeks later in a hospital room--all alone.
When news was cabled back to America that 25-year-old William Whiting Borden was dead, "a wave of sorrow went round the world." His biographer later wrote, "Borden not only gave away his wealth, but himself, in a way so joyous and natural that is seemed a privilege rather than a sacrifice." Many people, though, thought that Borden had thrown his life away. He could have had everything, but instead met an untimely death, they thought, of his own doing. As his associates were packing up his belongings to ship them back to the states for his burial, they found his Bible next to his hospital bed. In the front cover, underneath the words "No reserves" and "No retreats," they were astonished to see the dying Borden has also scrawled two final words: "No regrets."
No reserves
No retreats
No regrets
Although William Borden's life appeared to end prematurely, he had accomplished everything God had planned for him. In his heart of hearts the young 25-year-old millionaire missionary must have reconciled his destiny there on his death bed, making peace with God--and himself. How about you and me? There are a hundred things we could do with our lives, a hundred pursuits for which we could exchange it. But how many of them will enable you to say at the end of your life, "No reserves, no retreats, no regrets?"
Epilogue: The story of his life and early death became a rallying cry for hundreds of college students who ended up spending their lives on the mission field because of Borden of Yale.
Amazing story right? Makes me definitely think twice about how I choose to live today, and what I choose to live for.
