"The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures. "

- John Newton

By now, some if not all of you have caught on that I've tried a new twist in bulletin writing by quoting a different verse of the song "Amazing Grace" each week and making some point based on what the words say. I do have to admit I've been enjoying it quite a bit myself. Frankly, this song makes me weep.

Some time ago I was looking around online, reading up on various topics that struck my fancy as I am want to do. For some reason, a web site of a certain southern denomination came up and they were discussing this song. I was dismayed to see one person complaining about the word "wretch", as in "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." The writer could not identify with the words, because they didn't believe he was a wretch by any stretch . A respondent on the page said it was OK, because John was talking about himself and that we don't need to apply this same sentiment to ourselves. What!?!

You see, John Newton was a Very Bad PersonTM in the eyes of many folks. He didn't start out that way, at a young age his mother taught him the bible. But she died and he went to sea as a cabin boy at the age of seven. Eventually, after a life of exciting and amazing experiences he found himself the captain of a ship, a slave trader. John wrote about himself, "I often saw the necessity of being a Christian as a means of escaping hell, but I loved sin and was unwilling to forsake it." He became more and more immersed in it, until he was despised by his own crew and considered an animal. Once he became so drunk he fell overboard and instead of lowering a boat to bring him back the crewmen threw a harpoon at him, like he was some kind of fish. It caught him in the hip and gave him a limp he had the rest of his life. Of the limp he later would say "Each limp is a constant reminder of God's grace to this wretched sinner."

In fact, the song is John's life story, an auto-biography of sorts. John says that not only was he a wretch, but he was lost, blind, proud, afraid, afflicted, and in danger. The awareness of his state as mentioned above is worth repeating - that he "loved sin and was unwilling to forsake it." I guess the writers on that web page just never saw the need to be saved, to be found, or to see, . Perhaps they were so perfect they never had any trouble with temptations. You know I am being ridiculous!

The thing is, I guess I, too, was a Very Bad Person^TM because I relate with John. I, too, was a wretch. I have had struggles with sin that were tough to overcome. I also live with consequences of past behavior. But like John, the Lord has promised good to me. I didn't have to hit bottom before I started looking up. If you want to know the "rest of the story" of John's life, "tune" in next week. The final verse written by John is not the one in our book.

Randy