The First Book (Besides the Bible) That I Remember Reading

It was The Angry Sailor by Kay Marshall Strom. It may not be obvious from the title of the book who it is about, but this is a biography of John Newton, the former slave-owner who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. It is a book written for grades 3-6, and I read this book as an elementary student.

I can vividly remember reading about Newton’s racism towards black people before he was converted and thinking, “People think that way about the color of someone else’s skin?”

I remember reading accounts of the physical beating and torture on some of these slave ships and thinking, “How could they get away with this? I suppose the answer to that is because they were “out at sea.”

I remember the foul language that Newton and others like him used and wondered how and why God would ever save someone like him.

But I also remember the lamenting and repentance of Newton. I remember him doing everything he could to reconcile with the people he hurt. He wrote later that the slave trade was a business that made him shudder.

He entered the ministry as an Anglican pastor and spoke of the influence that men like George Whitefield, Charles and John Wesley had on his faith.

As you probably know, he wrote the most famous and beloved hymn in church history. The stanzas of this hymn are his life story in bite-size form.

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found Was blind, but now I see.

Newton was lost in his sin; he was lost in his racism; he was lost in his evil mindset. But God did not keep him there. God intervened. God saved Newton.

‘Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear, And Grace my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed.

It was the grace of God that made the difference. Newton didn’t save himself. He didn’t figure it all out on his own. He didn’t do more good than bad to earn God’s favor.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. ‘Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus far And Grace will lead me home.

Newton – like all of us – experienced uncertainties throughout his life. Nothing went the way he thought it should in life.  But God did not leave his side. God walked with Him and God would eventually take him to the gates of heaven.

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

The only stability and endurance Newton had was not based in his own resources or strength. It was God’s Word and God’s character that sustained him.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we’d first begun.

When Newton went to heaven, he entered a place where no racism occurs, where sinlessness is a reality, and where no men or women are thought of as inferior to any others. And this place – that God calls heaven – will never end. There will never be a day in which we have been there longer in the past than how many days are ahead.

Only God can do this in the heart of man. Only God can take an angry sailor and make him a loving pastor.