I Once Was Lost: The Story of John Newton and Amazing Grace

John Newton is a young man in search of lifes purpose. As a child, he first lost his mother, his uncaring father sent him to a boys school where the headmaster tried to break his spirit. On the verge of despair, he goes to sea on his eleventh birthday. Not much later, he watches as several friends die when their small boat flounders. Is it any wonder that John is furious at God for abandoning him? Yet, he struggles with the knowledge that it is God who has spared his life on several occasions. For what reason, he asks? He asks the same question of the young maid he falls in love with, only to find himself separated for five years when pressed into the Navy. His anger rekindled, John begins a determined journey of rebellion, asking his shipmates to name a single sin he has yet to commit. Worse still, he convinces a young midshipman to give up his faith, only to encounter him later in life, an evil and depraved man. When he is traded to a slave ship, John begins a new endeavor to build an empire in the burgeoning slave industry, only to be tricked into becoming the slave of his so-called benefactor. After two years of grinding oppression, John is literally at deaths door when a sympathetic plantation owner buys him. The crescendo of Johns despair occurs when he is headed home, fearful that his love may be married to someone else. When his ship in caught in The Storm of the Century, he understands that if he died, God would have no reason to offer him grace. That moment transforms John life into a great adventure. He steps through a doorway and discovers the reason for all his adversity and God's purpose for his life. Follow the author of Amazing Grace as he faces the suffering and blessings of life, and coming to understand the meaning of contentment. His story will change your life, as well.