Old Sinner Saved by Grace

Gloria Gaither:  One of the many joys of our work is traveling with and coming to know and love some wonderful ­people. Bill says we “collect characters,” and he is right. Artists are a breed all to themselves. We love them! They seem to be wired with their sensors closer to the surface than other human beings. They not only experience what happens to them, they feel what happens to other ­people too.  One of the characters Bill and I collected was George Younce. George was not only one of the greatest bass singers who ever slid to a low note, but he was also a great storyteller and a very funny man. Whenever we shared the stage with the Cathedral Quartet, you could be sure there would be hearty laughter coming from the greenroom backstage, where the singers gather before, during, and after a concert to eat snacks, drink coffee, and tell stories of the road.  George told his stories with more humor than anyone we knew. When George told them, even old stories we all knew by heart doubled us over with laughter.  Like most artists, George could be just as serious as he was funny. No one loved the stories of Jesus any better than George; nor do I know anyone who was more likely to be moved by a great song or a sincere compliment from an innocent child. George loved his Lord and he loved his family. He treasured his friends.  He loved to tell and retell the story of how God found him and changed his life. It’s the story of a country boy from Mississippi who lied about his age, and, in 1947, left his Christian home to join the paratroops.  George told what happened like this: Unfortunately I got in with the wrong crowd, and a boy named Mousey Gonzales introduced me to my first “left-handed cigarette”—marijuana. I worked special duty as a bartender for the HCO and Officers’ Club. Not only did I mix and serve drinks, I’d also sing country songs for the officers. This was not a very healthy atmosphere for a young, green country boy who had strayed from his upbringing and from the Lord. What was supposed to be only three months of special duty turned into three years of bartending and a longer struggle with alcohol.  After George finished his tour of duty in the service, he went to Alaska, looking for adventure. But after only a few months, he returned home. He said, “I was restless and searching when one night the Lord spoke to my heart, and I realized there was no hope for me without Jesus. I got down on my knees and rededicated my life to Him, and I’ve never looked back.”  With that commitment George let God do a work that changed everything. “He’s blessed me beyond belief!”   George would tell you as he recited the beauty God had poured into his life down through the years: a family who loved God, friends all over the country who were like family, and an opportunity to travel and sing of his Redeemer for almost forty years with Glenn Payne and the other men who made up the Cathedrals. One night after a concert that had been especially anointed by the Spirit of the Lord, George said, “The Cathedrals are going back into the studio to record soon. I’d love it if you two would write me a song. You know my story; I’m just an old sinner saved by grace.” Bill and I felt honored that he asked, and we did put George’s story in a song, “Sinner Saved by Grace.”