Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. Isaiah 55:7 NIV

Amazing grace how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me, …

John Newton who penned these words was an undisciplined, uncouth and evil man. Although raised in the Christian faith until he was 7, when his mother died, he soon forgot her teachings and went to sea. First, he sailed with his father, then on a merchant ship and then he was press-ganged into the Royal Navy. His foul temper and insubordination soon saw him transferred to a slave ship and then abandoned in West Africa by the ship’s captain. For 3 years he suffered dreadful abuse as a slave, at the hands of an African princess. Eventually rescued by a friend of his fathers, he was carried homeward. A storm off the coast of Ireland was so ferocious that his ship began to sink. John prayed for the first time in many years and pleaded with God to save them. The storm abated and it changed John’s heart. His consistent growth in the faith gradually transformed him from a foul mouthed, harsh sailor, involved in the slave trade, to a minister of the gospel and abolitionist. God’s grace and forgiveness is for anyone. No matter how evil or vile we are, God can still forgive us and change our hearts.

photo by pexels-pixabay-sailing ship.   John Newton information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/john_newton