The Sinner and the Showboat - Chapter 10 Amazing Grace

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The situation Tom found himself in was like nothin’ he had ever known his lifetime. Here he sat in a part of town he'd never dared tread before, sittin' as a comrade, beside this ragged old dirty homeless man named Donny. Donny encompassed everything that Tom had previously despised and scorned. For the first time in his life Tom could see beyond what his eyes perceived. Donny was a man who had once had it all; security, nice job, a wife and the pleasures of success … just like him but Donny lost it all in one split second … now here he was on the streets like a cast-off, abandoned and alone. Why hadn’t Tom realized that street people had hearts and souls and ambitions and dreams just like he had? Tom suddenly felt very small.

Next this hoodlum shows up with the wisdom of a preacher posing the question, "So, if you did it for church, was you doin' it for God?" Tom could feel the penetration of a very real force threatening the protective hard core shell of pride and arrogance he had carefully built around his heart. As he stared into His coffee cup fighting with the question .. he felt a battle raging within .. “I worked hard for the Church .. Shouldn’t I get some praise and honor from the pulpit?” His mind then flew to Donny, this dirty .. yet .. some kind of a ..‘prophet of the streets’ little man sittin' there beside him. Donny said ... maybe I did the right thing for the wrong reasons. If I was doing all this work for praise then what he says must be true. It was all about me and nothin' to do with God. Tom’s racing thoughts suddenly halted as they were invisibly forced back to the question.. “was you doin’ it for God?” He felt a hot flush racing up into his face as a deep sense of pain and remorse filled his breast .. he bowed his head low as he recognized the truth. He whispered a prayer as he confessed, “I was doin’ it for my own glory .. I was showboatin .. You got me God!”

As Tom raised his head he looked deep into the eyes of young Shakira ... she was talkin’ to him: “You can come back wit your own victory from Jesus."Is it true?” Tom thought. “Aint no way I can make a come back after what I done!" Shakira was sayin’ there is nothin’ can take the victory in Jesus from me but it’s up to me to fight for it and what she said about satan’s whispers .. I got that! ... he’s been tryin to puff me up and beat me down all at the same time ever since I opened up the rage inside.” As he was weighing all of this in his head somthin' Pastor Watermelon said, a couple a weeks ago, flashed through his mind ... He was talkin' about the mercy and faithfulness of God to forgive us when we confess our sins. He had read "As far as the East is from the West, so far have I removed your sin from you." Didn't mean much last week when he was sittin' in Church thinkin' about other things, but just now it was like a curtain had been pulled back and he saw it .. like a new revelation. When does the East catch up with the West ... NEVER!!!  His heart beat wildly as God's word began to sink in. Somewhere in that message Pastor said He remembers your sin no more. Tom grabbed onto this new found hope. Jesus will forgive me and He will give me victory and yes ... it's worth fightin for!”

What’s she sayin’ now? “Walk up to that altar. Know what? That bench you be sittin' on is the altar. We can get your victory right here. My dad says it don't gotta be no church building."

Tom was compelled, as if by force, to his knees ... and as he went down he reached up for God's mercy. Donny and Cut were down too; bowin' down right beside him. Next thing ya know Pastor Watermelon and John were on the scene.

There on the streets with a crowd gatherin' the hand of God reached down to His creation. As Tom was bein’ prayed over he heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “Aint none too good, too poor, too bad for God to reach or ta forgive …. Don’t ever forget it boy!” Tom knew, just as surely and as firmly as he knew his own name that he would NEVER forget it.

Myrtle Marie was one of many alert and curious bystanders who crowded around. She sat there clinging to her cane, hungrily studying the scenario playing out before her. She knew this bench and this spot well and as she watched the slick suited man crumble to his knees, a still small voice spoke to her ... "Do you remember?"... as she sensed the voice, a very clear picture of her past flashed before her. It was a day long ago ... she was a young girl ... she too had been lost but the same Amazing Grace, Shakira spoke of, had found her. In fact it was at this very same park bench .. at this alter in the park ... that she too had bowed down to receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

Somewhere along the way she got side-tracked. Now as she watched these three .. bowed before the alter in the park ..her heart was crushed with a realization of what she had lost. She had allowed the burdens, chaos and complications of her life to take precedence over her faith. She had taken her eyes off Jesus and been pulled down by the hardships. In effect ... she had given up on Jesus; She was the one who had walked away from Amazing Grace. Now she saw it clearly.

As an onlooker, she relived what God had done for her on a day so many years ago. He had forgiven her of many heavy sins and had lifted her to a new life. How could she have walked away? Could God forgive her? Just then she heard Shakira proclaim "You can come back wit your own victory from Jesus." "Thank You Jesus ... never again will I walk away ... Glory to God on High whispered Myrtle through the tears .... next thing she knew she was standing up raising her hands to the Heavens .... with a smile of victory shining all across her withered old face. Myrtle Marie could be heard above the clammer of the crowd loudly proclaiming .... Amazing Grace ... I surrender ALL!