Amazing Grace!

***This was a posting from my old blog. It's the only one I saved. I felt the thoughts I wrote about in this entry were important for me to remember, especially as I start this new part of my life. I hope it inspires you as well. 5/08***

Amazing Grace (How sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ'd!

Thro' many dangers, toils and snare,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall profess, within the vail,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call'd me here below,
Will be for ever mine.

_________________
This evening I was very lucky to join at least a hundred of my co-workers at a showing of the movie "Amazing Grace," provided free of charge to those working in the legislature. I had heard it was a great movie, but I was unprepared for the feelings it invoked within me.

For those who do not know the story, it is essentially this:
A brilliant and innovative thinker, Mr. William Wilberforce, was a British Member of Parliament in the 18th century. William fought throughout his career to abolish the slave trade. The movie follows the trials William faces. His passion for change literally made him ill throughout a significant portion of his life. He believed so strongly in what he and his close circle of friends and advisors believed- I don't know how accurate the little details in the movie are, but I believe at a minimum, whether they were true or not, they were felt in his life. An example: throughout the movie, William explains that sleep is worse than being awake, for every time he falls asleep, he finds himself living the utter torture of the slave trade. He lives all of his research. He is in an overcrowded ship, crammed into a four foot by eighteen inch box, lying in his own waste for the three week or longer journey from Britain to Jamaica. He is a young African child adding fuel to a fire to create sugar cane who is suddenly engulfed in flames from the fire, or who fell asleep and rolled into an unimaginably painful death in the fire.

At many points throughout and immediately after the movie, I thought- look what this man did. Look at how much he achieved. What on earth can I do that is equally powerful and world-changing? What plan does God have for me? Can I live up to his expectations? To my own?

William struggled in the beginning of his political career- pulled between a desire to serve God and a desire to change the world. In an 'intervention' of sorts, the future Prime Minister William Pitt gathers abolitionists who explain to Wilberforce- he can serve God and change the world- he musn't choose one over the other. I want to live a life like that. I need to surround myself with such visionaries.

In a poignant scene, the author of the lyrics to "Amazing Grace" (a former slave trade ship captain who found God during a harsh storm, and spend the rest of his life repenting the sins of his past- bringing thousands of slaves from Africa to the hell of the rest of their life), a friend and mentor to Wilburforce, tells William he must spread the word of this pastor's sins so that they will not be repeated. Again, I want a life like that.

I've always felt that I've been blessed with the desire to create change. I feel I have the capacity to do great things- something not necessarily given to everyone (or, if given to all, not used to the best of everyone's ability). This movie has reminded me of this blessing, and made me even more eager to discover the injustice that I will help solve.

I strongly urge everyone to go see this movie. I'd love to talk to anyone about it- and I want to hear if it called to you as much as it did I.
www.amazinggracemovie.com


O Lord my God
When I in awesome wonder
consider all the world's thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displays
Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee
How great thou art,
How great thou art

Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee
How great thou art,
How great thou art.