Wee Bobbie

There was a session on the little Scottish church in the Highlands which had met for what they regarded for what was a unpleasant but necessary task. They felt that their minister was getting too old, and that they needed a younger, more vigorous leader. They claimed that the work of the church had slowed down, and that nothing was being done. Although they loved and respected their pastor, they felt that he should be replaced.

A member of the session had been chosen to put their convictions into words. When they were assembled, he spoke first of their love and respect for their pastor.

Then he described the condition of the church and said that since no one had been added to the church that year, they felt a change must be made. The old pastor said, “No one has been added? Have you forgotten wee Bobbie?” They admitted that they had forgotten wee Bobbie, but after all just one little boy didn’t count for much.

That didn’t change matters any, so the aged minister did not remain longer in the parish. But before he left, he had many talks and seasons of prayer with wee Bobbie, and the lad determined to give his life as a missionary to Christ in some foreign land.

A quarter of a century later “wee Bobbie” was working in China, translating the Holy Scriptures into the Chinese language and preparing the way for the great advance of Christian missions in that land. Little Bobbie had become Robert Morrison, famed pioneer missionary to China.