Monday, July 21, 2008

“Amazing Grace, How Sweet the sound, that saved a wrench like me.  I once was lost but now I am found.  Was blind but now I see.”

Again I cannot take credit for coming up with these lyrics.  John Newton is the author and his story is fascinating.  He was the captain of a slave ship and had an epiphany while out on the open sea.  The ship was caught in a severe storm and he prayed that God would save them.  The storm eventually subsided and the crew was spared.  Newton began reading the bible and eventually converted over to Christianity.  It was after his conversion that he wrote the words “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound...”  He was later ordained as an Anglican Priest and was very famous in England.  He later joined forces with William Wilberforce who lead the cause to abolish slavery in the British Empire.  If you have not seen the movie Amazing Grace I suggest renting it.  The movie is much more detailed.

These past seven weeks have been rough.  I have spent a lot of time planning and not really seeing any results.  Our first event at Emmanuel was a major let down and I was really wondering why God sent me here.  I did not want to spend the entire summer working and seeing no results.  Yesterday I saw the Amazing Grace of God.  We went to Apostles in the morning and had a great response from the congregation.  I really did like this congregation and the praise band was phenomenal.  I mean wow.  The last song they did was He Reigns.  This song is incredibly hard to sing and play and to hear it done well is very rare.  The bass player blew me away.  He played the bass line perfectly and sang this song with all his heart.  Later that evening we had an adoption orientation at Trinity Lutheran where we had 10 participants.  I only had four rsvp and the pastor did not think anyone would come.  I was shocked when all these people came.  Amazing Grace...Amazing Grace.

God’s Amazing Grace is beyond all human understanding.  His grace can change even the hardest of hearts and it is by his Grace alone that we receive his love.  His  grace was revealed to Newton and as soon as Newton saw his grace, he began to make a change.  Granted it took Newton years to get out of the Slave Trade after his conversion but how many of us find it easy to leave the security of our sins.  Think about it, the slave trade was all Newton knew.  It was his source of income and it was how he was seen by the world and the society that he lived in.   Jesus does not call the best of the best but he calls you and me.  He calls the ordinary out of darkness to be his own.  Sometimes we like the darkness because the darkness is all we know.  Once we get over our fear, we see the light and God’s Amazing Grace that saved a wrench like me.