The words in the caption above are printed for you at the bottom of this post.

Early in 1832 a man named James Taylor* knelt down beside his pregnant 24–year–old wife, Amelia, and prayed: “Dear God, if you should give us a son, grant that he may work for you in China.”

Why China? Because James Taylor — this young chemist in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England — was positively fascinated by all things Chinese. Many great empires of the ancient world once rose to vast power only to fade away as history marched forward. Think of the mighty empires of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. You only meet them now in history books or the Bible, but the Chinese Empire yet remains.

On May 21, 1832, God did indeed grant them a son. He was named James Hudson Taylor, Hudson being his mother’s maiden name.

Growing up around his father’s fascination with China, Hudson would sometimes declare his intention to live in China as a Christian missionary one day. His parents, however, did not tell him of their prayer for many, many years. They waited to see what God would do.

Like many of us, Hudson went through a period of restlessness and rebellion in his teenage years, but through the faithful prayers of his mother, he was restored to the Christian faith. (Think Monica & Augustine — see the July 31, 2007 post on this blog.)

A few months after his restoration, Hudson was on his face praying “before Him with unspeakable awe and unspeakable joy,” when his interest in China was renewed. From that point on, Hudson Taylor was wholly absorbed with one goal: taking the gospel to the interior of China.

The next few years were spent studying medicine, learning the Chinese language, and immersing himself in the Word of God and prayer. And on September 19, 1853 the 21–year–old Hudson Taylor said an emotional farewell to his mother (his father was deceased by this time), and boarded the little three–masted clipper Dumfries, headed for China.

Somewhere along the way the ship ran into a terrible storm. The captain was convinced they would not survive another half–hour and asked Hudson, “What of your call to labor for the Lord in China?” Hudson Taylor replied that he was confident they would reach China, but if not, “The Master would say it was well that I was found seeking to obey his command.”

And in March of 1854, they did indeed reach China.  We’ll continue the story of Hudson Taylor next time we return to the story category. But this is also the story of the church: living the adventure of faith, trusting God in the midst of fearful circumstances, and taking seriously Christ’s call to herald his gospel to all nations.

“To every toiling, heavy–laden sinner, Jesus says, ‘Come to me and rest.’ But there are many toiling, heavy–laden believers, too. For them this same invitation is meant. Note well the words of Jesus, if you are heavy–laden with your service, and do not mistake it. It is not, ‘Go, labour on,’ as perhaps you imagine. On the contrary, it is stop, turn back, ‘Come to me and rest.’ Never, never did Christ send a heavy laden one to work; never, never did He send a hungry one, a weary one, a sick or sorrowing one, away on any service. For such the Bible only says, ‘Come, come, come.’” Hudson Taylor

* No, not that James Taylor.  But I am listening to that James Taylor right now on pandora.com.  Shouldn’t you be doing the same?

From the caption with Hudson Taylor’ picture above… From his obituary, June 3, 1905: “In his death China lost one of her best friends and greatest benefactors. He loved the Chinese with a Christlike love and spent himself on their behalf with Christlike devotion. He lived for China and he died for China. From first to last his one grand aim was to bring this great people to Christ. He was a man of God, raised by God for a great work, and wholly devoted to the work which had been given him to do.” One Chinese evangelist on hearing of his death said: “Dear and venerable pastor, we too are your little children. You opened for us the road to heaven.”