Interesting Facts about John Newton’s “Amazing Grace”

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved ______________.”

Whether you grew up singing in church or not, most people know the next few words of this famous song. It has been called the spiritual anthem of the United States. You’re just as likely to hear it sung on American Idol as you are at a local church.

Biographer Jonathan Aitken describes John Newton’s hymn, “Amazing Grace,” as “the most sung, most recorded, and most loved hymn in the world. No other song, spiritual or secular, comes close to it in terms of numbers of recordings (over three thousand in the United States alone), frequency of performances (it is publicly sung at least ten million times per year), international popularity across six continents, or cultural longevity (234 years old and still going strong).”[1]

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Steal Away Home

The superhero film genre shows no signs of slowing down. Every month a new DC or Marvel film tries to quench our thirst for heroes. We were made for heroes. We need them. The problem is we lack authentic, relatable, real-life heroes who show us what a life of passion, love, virtue, courage looks like in a flesh-and-blood human being. Superman and Wonder Woman might leave us looking for someone to save us, but they are so fundamentally unlike us that they fail to provide fallen human heroes we can emulate.  Continue reading Steal Away Home