William Moore was born in 1821. Following his conversion to Christ, his call to the ministry, his marriage, and his ordination, he and Mrs. Moore set sail for Assam on this day in 1849. They served in that country and in Burma for five years before Brother Moore completely lost his voice, forcing their return home to Ohio. For the next twenty-five years Moore served the Lord as a deacon in a church in Middletown.
Later in his life Deacon Moore thrilled the children of the church telling them about a day when he was riding a solid-tire bicycle to a preaching destination on the mission field. As he pedaled around a bend in the road he ran over what he first thought was a green stick. When he began to hear a funny sound coming from his rear wheel, he looked back to see a two foot-long snake twisted in among the spokes. The missionary was familiar with the green cobras of that region, so he instantly became afraid to stop the bike.
Asking the Lord for protection and wisdom, he rode on hearing a constant, “swish,” “thump,” “swish,” “thump.” It may have been as he approached a downward hill, that he determined what to do. After gathering as much speed as he could, he leapt from the bike, bouncing into the roadside dust while the bicycle careened down the hill. He heard the “swish,” “thump,”“swish,” “thump,” and then the crash. Carefully, he approach his wrecked bicycle and saw that the snake no longer had a head. It had been bashed on the ground so often that it broke off. Then on a closer examination, he discovered that the Lord had protected him from a harmless green grass snake. With each telling of the tale, different applications became apparent.