Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 / Mark 4:35-41
The name John Newton might sound familiar and ring a bell for some of us.
Well, John Newton was a slave trader in the 1700s.
One night, a violent storm tossed his slave ship about like driftwood.
John Newton panicked and he cried out to God like this:
O God, if You see us safely through this storm, I will stop all this slave-trading business and become Your slave.
The ship survived and John Newton kept his promise.
Later, as a minister of the gospel, he wrote this hymn to celebrate his conversion.
The hymn is this: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I one was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.
Like the disciples, it took a storm to let John Newton see who Jesus is.
So when a storm is blowing in our lives, let us persevere in prayer and know that Jesus is opening our eyes to see His love for us.