Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do
shall
he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go
to the
father.
Was God telling him to stay in London rather than go to China?
Thomas
Barnardo had come to London for missionary training, only to have a
10 year
old child show him a rooftop were 11 homeless boys were sleeping.
Barnardo's
heart was touched. He set about finding temporary lodging for the
boys.
Other midnight tours of the area revealed many more homeless
youth---- as
many as 73 in one night. China would have to wait. God had given him
London.
Barnardo sold some 30,000 copies of the scriptures in the public
houses and
marketplaces to raise money for his work among the children. He was
often
rejected for defending them, even sustaining physical injury.
In one attack, he suffered two broken ribs. When a cholera epidemic
hit
London in 1866, he and others worked tirelessly, only to see
thousands die.
He eventually opened a "Home for Destitute Boys " and
later a " Village for
Girls." Through the next several decades, he built numerous
homes and
villages that cared for some 60,000 abandoned children.
Barnardo's missionary desire was put to work by his being " The
Father of
Nobodies Children." And happily, he lived long enough to see
seventeen of
the youth he rescued take the Gospel to foreign lands.
EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD.
ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD. |
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