The Sailor Who Kept Making Promises

In March 1748, John Newton's slave ship nearly broke apart in a violent North Atlantic storm. Waves crashed through the deck as the vessel listed dangerously. Newton, who had long abandoned the faith his mother taught him, cried out to God for mercy. When the storm finally passed, he opened a Bible and began to pray. But within weeks, Newton was back at the slave trade, his desperate prayers forgotten like morning fog.…