amazing grace...

At my father's funeral in the spring of 2007 there was a piper at the cemetery. He played Praise to the Man, Amazing Grace, and Oh My Father... among other hymns. When I saw the last scene from the movie Amazing Grace a few months after his passing, I burst into tears, simply from the memories that were evoked in my heart...

Music was one of the ways that my earthly father communed with and taught his children to commune with Heavenly Father. It was one of the things he shared with his children and it was one of the ways he comforted his own heart after my mom's ability to remember him left her, he loved the great old hymns and he really liked this one especially...

He also loved all things Scot... but especially the musical heritage of the pipes... I thinks his Scots ancestors reverberated in him the deepest... often that part of me... my Scots heritage... touches me very deeply too, and the haunting strains of a piper truly speak to me as it did to my father...

There are many youtube videos of this song being played by talented pipers... none of the renditions I have heard are more moving to me that the one from the last scene of the movie Amazing Grace, alas this embedded link to the scene



may no longer be available on youtube due to copyright issues, by the time this post is read... which I suppose is only fair... but really if you want to see a perfectly complied version of this song, just buy the movie and watch the last scene as often as you like... (it's scene #24, you can go right to that scene...) Why the production company never created a music video out of this scene, I don't know... but I can't find one anywhere to link to here... Personally, I believe that the movie Amazing Grace was one of the best films of 2007, and since that happened to be the year my parents both passed away, I consider that to be somewhat interesting...

Similarly, I can't say enough good about the film. I bought a copy the day it was released on video... I was brought up to love all men and women... some of my dearest friends have come from different nationalities and cultures, and the story of this fight to stop the trafficking of others brings tears to my heart... I have been similarly moved by stories of the Holocaust and other stories of oppression... I believe that our Father in Heaven wants us to be good to each other... he wants us to reach out and love and care for each other... and I think that the author of this song captured the feelings we all have that too often we fall short of that goal. It is then that we reach out to "Grace". Amazing... this grace that the Lord provides for us.

On this day... which would have been my daddy's 97th birthday I would like to dedicate the song Amazing Grace to him, for he lived with just such a faith in Grace and a willingness to reach out in love to those that he was able to come in contact with... He was a man of service and love to many... He had a faith with which he was able to "move mountains" and call upon "miracles" during his life... I am one of those small miracles... today I really miss his presence... and I am grateful that he taught me about my Savior's Grace...

I leave you today with one quote that I love from one of the men connected with that amazing movie I spoke of above...

“My prayer is that you will internalize the life of William Wilberforce and make a difference in your world, whoever and wherever you are.” ~ Ken Wales Producer of the movie Amazing Grace