Recently I was introduced to the word “self-aholic, a word that describes those whose lives are centered around being comfortable and seeking the next “feel good” adventure. In other words, probably too many of us. That term does not describe John Pounds (whom I first read about while researching for another article).

John Pounds, a tall, muscular teen-laborer at the docks of Portsmouth, England, slipped and plunged from the top of a ship’s mast, pitching headfirst into the deck of the vessel. Witnesses were sickened by what they saw, and when fellow workers reached him, he was a mass of broken bones.  Bedridden for two years, his bones healed crookedly. His pain never ceased. Out of boredom, he began to read the Bible.

After some time, John crawled from bed, hoping to find something he could do with his life. A shoemaker hired him, and day after day, John sat at his cobbler’s bench, a Bible open on his lap. Soon he had asked Jesus to be the Lord of his life. Over time, John gathered enough money to purchase his own little shoe shop, and one day he developed a pair of surgical boots for his crippled nephew Johnny, whom he had adopted. Soon John was making corrective shoes for other children, and his little cobbler’s shop became a miniature children’s hospital.

As John’s burden for children grew, he began receiving homeless ones, feeding them, teaching them to read, and telling them about the Lord. His shop became known as “The Ragged School,” and John would limp around the waterfront, food in his pockets, looking for more children to tend.

During his lifetime, John Pounds rescued 500 children from despair and led every one of them to Christ. Moreover, his work became so famous that a “Ragged School Movement” swept England, and a series of laws were passed to establish schools for poor children in John’s honor. Boy’s homes, girl’s homes, day schools, and evening schools were started, along with Bible classes in which thousands heard the gospel.

When John collapsed and died on New Year’s Day, 1839, while tending to a boy’s ulcerated foot, he was buried in a churchyard on High Street. All England mourned.

In my book A Little Faith Lift…Finding Joy Beyond Rejection, I write much about how God uses broken hearts and lives more than He does those who never have suffered physically, emotionally or spiritually.  Last night, I received a text from an acquaintance who was on chapter six and wrote about her life of brokenness that was masked in sarcasm and a “false wall” to hide her feelings. Reading about the multitude of ways I covered my insecurities had given her great comfort as she saw how much she was doing likewise.

Hebrews 6:10 tells us that God “will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” 1 Peter 4:10 is more specific:  “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

John Pounds refused to be a self-aholic.  He did not use his pain or his limp as an excuse; he served in spite of his ailments.  Whatever our “limp” might be (not smart enough, not holy enough, not talented enough, etc.) we need to remember that every one of us has a gift.  The question we need to ask ourselves is this: How am I using that gift to bless others and not just myself?