It doesn't matter if you are eaten by cannibals or worms

I love this quote from a missionary and his response to well meaning discouragement from going to the field:

Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, “The Cannibals ! you will be eaten by Cannibals!”

At last I replied, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”

John G Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides. An Autobiography. P89-91