One Man. One Decision. A Changed World.

150 years ago today, one man made a decision that, by God's grace, changed the world.

Here is how Hudson Taylor, the great pioneer missionary to China, described the day:

"Unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their own security, while millions were perishing from lack of knowledge, I wandered out on the sands alone, in great spiritual agony; and there the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service.

I told Him that all the responsibility as to issues and consequences must rest with Him; that as His servant, it was mine to obey and to follow Him—His to direct, to care for, and to guide me and those who might labor with me. Need I say that peace at once flowed into my burdened heart?

There and then I asked Him for twenty-four fellow-workers, two for each of eleven inland provinces (of China) which were without a missionary, and two for Mongolia; and writing the petition on the margin of the Bible I had with me, I returned home with a heart enjoying rest such as it had been a stranger to for months."

A century and a half later, conservative estimates number the Chinese church at 60-100 million believers. And today those believers are sending out their own missionaries to the largely unreached lands from China's western frontier all the way back to Jerusalem.

One man. One decision. And a changed world.

Lately, I've been realizing more than ever the weight my decisions carry, the impact they have on the trajectory of my future as I finish college and move on to whatever lies beyond.

And when I read the lives of Christian heroes like Hudson Taylor (who ranks easily among the five greatest influences on my life), my heart burns for my decisions to matter, for my life to count long after my name has weathered from its gravestone.

When I look at their lives, though, I usually don't look deep enough. I see their disciplined prayer, devotion to Scripture, and single-mindedness and think, I should be more disciplined, devoted, and single-minded too.

But with that thought I focus on the effects and overlook the cause, for beneath their shining legacies lies a great cause: total dependence on God Himself.

And that is what I should be: totally dependent on the God who, as Hudson Taylor said, "uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him.” The only One who can empower me to live a life that counts for eternity.

After all, “all God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”