God’s Redemptive Love

TODAY: Ponder these words written in 1857 by Frederick Douglass, the one-time slave who taught himself to read one letter at a time and became one of the nation’s great leaders and orators. “If there is not struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will.”

As I write this, the Western World recently commemorated a New Year, and I have just celebrated another birthday. Both of these events frequently compel us to look back on our lives in order to learn from our successes and failures, which is why this passage has so much meaning to me.

Throughout the past year, I too have had my share of good times and bad. I have had the joys of welcoming the first niece into our family, attending the weddings of several close friends and traveling to new cities. I’ve also faced several challenging situations: striving to balance my home, charitable and work commitments; confronting difficult personal issues; and dealing with the serious illnesses and deaths of several people who were (and continue to be) important to me.

One of the highlights of 2000 was taking a tall ship cruise on the Flying Cloud with my husband around the Caribbean. One night, I looked up at the clear, starry sky and reflected on the sense of peace and serenity that I found there. It seemed hard to believe that two years earlier, Flying Cloud’s sister ship, the Fantome, was lost at sea during Hurricane Mitch. Thirty-one souls went down with her. It made me appreciate the fragility of life, how nothing can be taken for granted.

Every morning aboard Flying Cloud, we helped hoist the sails to the strains of one of Christianity’s most enduring hymns. You undoubtedly know it, but you may not know the story behind the lyrics. It’s one of my favorite stories, as it demonstrates the power of God’s redemptive love working throughout each of our lives — not just through the virtuous, but through us sinners, as well.

In about 1750, there was a man — who claimed to believe in Christ — who commanded a slave ship. The conditions aboard the ship were so inhumane that about 20 percent of the slaves died on the journey. One night the ship encountered a ferocious storm, and the captain was sure the ship and all aboard would be lost. Faced with death, he realized the truth of what an unChristian life he had been living, and he sat down to compose what he assumed would be his last words.

The ship survived the storm and the captain left the slave business to become a minister, and for the last 43 years of his life he preached the word of the Lord to thousands. His story may have been lost to the ages if he had not set his “last words” to music. The man’s name is John Newton, and his hymn begins, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

Lent is an appropriate time to reflect on our lives, and the awe-inspiring gift that we have been given — the gift of eternal life. It is a time to learn from the past, live for today and plan for the future. Although the Biblical call to “examine ourselves” may be a difficult one to carry out, it is a necessary one if we are to move forward. As the life of Newton shows, God’s grace is offered to all of us who are willing to listen to His word.

— Caryn Harris