Amazing Grace - The Black Keys

I was sent a link to the video below in an email recently. I wasn't exactly sure what it was when I first opened it but as I listened to the story that is told of how the song Amazing Grace came to be I was moved to tears. Tears of joy at the thought of how amazing Grace is, in my life and in the lives of so many others through history, tears at the thought of the hardships and horrors that so many have faced and tears at the thought that through it all God, in his amazing Grace is able to bring freedom to all people and bring them together.

The man in the video tells of John Newton as the man who wrote the words to the song Amazing Grace. This reminded of the movie by the same name. I watched it several months ago. It's the story of William Wilberforce played by Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic 4). Wilberforce led the twenty-year fight to end the British slave trade. Amazing Grace is the story of his fight to abolish slavery. John Newton (the man who wrote Amazing Grace) however, was a mentor to William Wilberforce and as a result the movie gives insight into Newton's story as well and his conversion from being a slave trader to a minister and abolitionist and then how he came to write Amazing Grace. It's a beautiful story of how only God could take something so ugly and turn it into something beautiful. So here is the video I just watched and if you haven't already, take the time to watch Amazing Grace also.