She Knew Every Name

In the spring of 1940, Japanese forces were closing in on Yangcheng in China's Shanxi Province. Gladys Aylward — a former London parlour maid turned missionary, barely five feet tall — made a staggering decision. She gathered nearly one hundred orphaned children and set out on foot for Sian, over a hundred miles across mountain terrain.

For twelve grueling days, Aylward led children as young as four through rugged passes and across the Yellow River. She carried the smallest when their legs gave out. She rationed handfuls of grain. When terror seized the group, she taught them to sing hymns, their thin voices echoing off the mountain walls. By the time they stumbled into Sian, Aylward was so ill she collapsed and nearly died.

She had no military escort, no vehicle, no wealth. What she had was the conviction that every child in her care bore the image of God. She knew their names. She knew their stories. And she refused to leave a single one behind.

Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me" (Matthew 18:5). Aylward welcomed not one but a hundred — and in doing so, she welcomed Christ a hundred times over.

Compassion has feet that blister on mountain roads and arms that carry children too exhausted to walk. When believers open their lives to the vulnerable and the forgotten, they are not merely doing good. They are receiving Jesus Himself.