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The trail through Africa was a trail
of tears, sickness, and many times
despair, but still he plodded on.

trail through Africa was a trail of tears, sickness, and many
times despair, but still he plodded on, driven by the will of
God to open up Africa for the Gospel
Standing in the Abbey, gazing down at the inscription on
his grave, I thought of all that he went through in Africa. I
thought of his wife dying there and his hardships. She had
been in Scotland for a year with the children. A set time had
been arranged for her to return to Africa to be with David.

In great loneliness for her husband, she pleaded with him
to allow her to come early. After only three months of being
back in Africa, Mary Livingstone became very ill and then
she died. The will of God is not always without a price.

That day in the Abbey, one question
loomed in my mind: “WHY?” Why
would a man go through all of that?
fantastic point of certainty—when we hear the Holy Spirit
say, “This is the way . . . walk ye in it.”
Some years ago on my first trip to London, I visited
Westminster Abbey. In the center of the Cathedral, buried
beneath the stone floor, lies the body of David Livingstone.

It seemed impossible to me that I could actually be so near
a man like that. Just inches away . . . just beneath my feet
was the body of a man who was described by Florence
Nightingale in these words:
“God has taken away the greatest man of our generation, for
Dr. Livingstone stood alone."
Dr. Livingstone did stand alone. He literally opened up
dark Africa for other missionaries. He plodded more than
29,000 miles through Africa and everywhere he went, he
left his mark. He administered medicine (he was a medical
doctor) and he gave out the message of Jesus Christ. David
Livingstone spent his life exploring the Dark Continent,
plodding deep into the interior where no white man had ever
been and even crossing the continent. His goal was to open
up the continent for the Gospel of Christ.

Livingstone saw much of death during his life. He witnessed
the murder of hundreds of Africans by the slave traders. The
4 Livingstone later wrote: “I loved Mary when we married
and the longer I lived with her, the more I loved her.” Then
he added these words in his journal, “I am left alone in the
world—Mary, Mary, I feel like I could die.”
L eaving Mary’s grave, David Livingstone plodded on
exploring for Christ. It was May 1, 1873, when he died
in a distant village at Ilala in Zambia. In the early hours of
the morning, his two servants, Chuma and Susi, entered his
tent, found him on his knees—but lifeless. They buried his
heart on the spot, dried his body in the sun, and transported
his body over a thousand miles to the coast. That body
was returned to Britain for burial in Westminster Abbey.

That day in the Abbey, one question loomed in my
mind: “Why?” Why would a man go through all of
that? What could possibly motivate a life of suffering
like that? What could generate such COURAGE?
Several years later, I found the answer to that question in
Scotland. I was visiting the homeplace of Livingstone. I saw
the bed he slept in as a boy. I looked at the tools he worked
with in a nearby mill from early morning until after dark. I
read the actual letters that he had written. Then I saw it—his
motto as a young man—the theme of his life. As a young
man Livingstone had picked up a pen and had written, "I will
place no value on anything that I have or possess except in
relation to the kingdom of Christ."



Here was the answer to my question at Westminster Abbey.

This was the reason he had gone so far and had done so
much. It was his personal estimation of Jesus. “I will place
no value on ANYTHING I have…except in relation to the
Kingdom of Christ.”
His commitment to the will of God had led him from
Scotland to Africa…to Westminster Abbey.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that
doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1 John 2:17).

Emily Dickinson wrote:
“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
And may we add:
If I can dry one tear of sorrow
And brighten one tomorrow
And point one in darkness
To the skies;
To hope in God before he dies,
I shall not have lived in vain.

Recent Events in Great Missionary Churches
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SOUTHLAKE FUNDAMENTAL
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Contact Information
for James Ray
Worldjray4@yahoo.com 423-802-5198 (cell)
BIMI 423-344-5050, Ext. 2103
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