September 13 | Moments Almanac | Bibles
On September 13, 1865, a young Welsh missionary named Robert Jermain Thomas reached the coast of Korea carrying Chinese-language Bibles into a country largely closed to the outside world. He could not have known how costly that calling would become—or how far the seeds he planted would travel. Today’s Moments Almanac is a story about courage, Scripture, and faithfulness when you may never live to see the harvest.
Welcome to Moments Almanac for September 13th. And on this day in 1865, a small Chinese sailing vessel reached the west coast of Korea. Among those aboard was a young Welsh missionary named Robert Germain Thomas. He was carrying something dangerous. Bibles. Korea was known to outsiders as the Hermit Kingdom, largely closed to foreign influence. Christianity had already entered through Catholic missionaries and converts, but believers had suffered fierce persecution. Thomas knew the risks, and he still came. He had not originally planned to go to Korea. Thomas had sailed for China in 1863 with his young wife Caroline after being ordained as a missionary, but within a few months after their arrival, Caroline died. Thomas was barely into adulthood, thousands of miles from home and suddenly a widower. Eventually he moved north to the Chinese port of Chefu, where he encountered Koreans who had told him about their homeland. Something about this closed country captured his imagination. Thomas began studying the Korean language and obtained Chinese language Bibles that educated Koreans could read. Then on September 4th, 1865, he climbed aboard a small Chinese boat and headed across the Yellow Sea. Nine days later, on September 13th, he reached the Korean coast. For roughly two and a half months, Thomas moved among islands and coastal communities, learning the language and quietly distributing scripture. Later he wrote that some Koreans accepted the books, even though possessing them could place their lives in danger. Think about that scene. A young missionary standing on the edge of a country almost completely closed to him, handing someone a book that neither of them could know would someday be read openly by millions of Koreans. Thomas returned to China, but he could not forget Korea. The following year he found another opportunity to return, this time aboard an American owned merchant ship called the General Sherman, serving as an interpreter. It was a disastrous voyage. The ship attempted to travel up the Tangdong River toward Pyongyang, tensions rose. Korean officials ordered the vessel to leave. Violence followed. The ship became stranded, fighting broke out, and eventually the general Sherman was burned. Thomas died with the rest of the crew. He was only twenty five. Later Christian accounts tell of Thomas distributing Bibles even as the ship was being destroyed. Some details of those final moments are difficult to verify, but this much is certain. Robert Germain Thomas came to Korea carrying scripture, and he never lived to see what Christianity would eventually become there. That may be part of the story worth remembering. We like to see results. We plant something and immediately start digging around to see if the roots are growing. But sometimes faithfulness means placing something in someone else's hands and trusting God with what happens next. A conversation, a kindness, a prayer, a Bible, a seed. Thomas could not see the harvest. He simply carried the seed as far as he could, and that's enough for any of us. On September 13th, 1865, Robert Germain Thomas reached the coast of Korea, arrived carrying books, and he had no idea how far that story would travel. And that's today's Moments Almanac. I hope you'll join me tomorrow. Until then, take care. Notice the scattered moments, and share the grace.
