In 1904 William Borden graduated from a Chicago high school. As heir to the Borden Dairy estate, he was already a millionaire. For his high school graduation present, his parents gave him a trip around the world. As he traveled through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Borden felt a growing burden for the world's hurting people. Finally, he wrote home to say, "I'm going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." After making this decision, William Borden wrote two words in the back of his Bible: "No Reserves."

Borden arrived at Yale University (Connecticut) in 1905 trying to look like just one more freshman. During his first semester at Yale, Borden started a movement that transformed the campus. His small morning prayer group was the beginning of the daily groups of prayer that spread to the whole campus. By the end of his first year, 150 freshman were meeting for weekly Bible study and prayer. By the time he was a senior, one thousand out of Yale's 1,300 students were meeting in such groups.

Borden's outreach ministry was not confined to the Yale campus. He rescued drunks from the streets of New Haven. To rehabilitate them, he founded the Yale Hope Mission. "He might often be found in the lower parts of the city at night, on the street, in a cheap lodging house or some restaurant to which he had taken a poor hungry fellow to feed him, seeking to lead men to Christ."
Borden's missionary call narrowed to the Muslims in China. Once that goal was in sight, Borden never wavered. He also inspired his classmates to consider missionary service. One of them said: "He certainly was one of the strongest characters I have ever known, and he put backbone into the rest of us at college. There was real iron in him, and I always felt he was of the stuff martyrs were made of, and heroic missionaries of more modern times. "

Upon graduation from Yale, Borden turned down some high paying job offers. He also wrote two more words in his Bible: "No Retreats."

William Borden went on to graduate work at Princeton Seminary in New Jersey. When he finished his studies at Princeton, he sailed for China. Because he was hoping to work with Muslims, he stopped first in Egypt to study Arabic. While there, he contracted spinal meningitis. Within a month 25-year-old William Borden was dead.

When news of the death of William Whiting Borden was cabled back to the U.S. from Egypt, "a wave of sorrow went round the world. Borden not only gave (away) his wealth, but himself, in a way so joyous and natural that it (seemed) a privilege rather than a sacrifice." 

Was Borden's untimly death a waste? Not in God's plan. Prior to his death, Borden had written two more words in his Bible. Underneath the words "No Reserves" and "No Retreats," he had written: "No Regrets."


<information and photo from http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/regret.htm>