Is This Giveway “Wright” for You?

May 26, 2010

When news broke recently that Chely Wright had come out publicly as a lesbian, you could have colored me with a big clueless crayon. I had no idea who she was, no doubt a side effect of my complete and total lack of interest in the entire genre of country music (with apologies to all my boot kickin’ line dancin’ members of the sisterhood). But it’s true. If memory serves me, though it seldom does, the only country western song I could sing through from start to finish if held at knife point by a band of roving cowpokes would be Tumbling Tumbleweeds, that classic bit of country twang made popular by the 1935 Gene Autry movie of the same name. And no, I’m not old enough to have seen the credits roll on opening night! It just so happens that I know that particular song because my dad played it over and over again through my informative years. Relentlessly. Without mercy.

Which obviously explains my first year in therapy.

Anyway, the other night while browsing through the Kindle store on my iPad (a shameless mention of my newest bright and shiny object), I downloaded the free sample of her book, “Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer,” and by the time I finished the freebie pages, she had me roped in. I’ve only read the first quarter of the book but I’m telling you, if the rest is anything like I’ve already read, it’s good.

How good? Let me tell you. I believe in time Chely Wright’s “Like Me” will stand shoulder to shoulder with Mel White’s “Stranger at the Gate: Being Gay and Christian in America” on the impact it will have on the lives of GLBTQ Christians. I would bet my entire change jar that most of you have read “Stranger at the Gate” and that it took nearly as many of you a step further in your personal journey to reconcile your faith and sexuality. I know of people who said reading White’s book saved their lives and one day, if not already, others will say the same thing about Wright’s book. While the specific details of her life are different from the many of us who’ve never had a number 1 hit on the Top 40 Country Chart, there are places in her story where it’s hard not to wonder if someone crawled inside your head and heart and wrote a chapter from your own life.

Dear God, please don’t let me be gay. I promise to be a good person. I promise not to lie. I promise not to steal. I promise to always believe in you. I promise to do all the things you ask me to do. Please take it away. In your name I pray. Amen.

Does Chely’s hidden prayer that began in her youth sound at all familiar to the secret prayer you prayed over and over again? Did you know you were somehow different from all the other girls in school but not know why? Was everything you knew about homosexuals limited to what you heard from the pulpit on Sunday morning and so you knew you couldn’t be one of them? Before coming out did you ever confront a Christian friend out of love when you learned they were gay? Did you date the opposite sex in an effort to do the right thing (or become a right person) then wonder what was wrong with you when you didn’t have any of the feelings you thought you were suppose to have? Did you ever feel so much despair and hopelessness living with your secret that you considered taking your life? Like I said, there are times when the stories and feelings she shares are so similar to mine (and possibly to yours) that we should band together and demand a percentage of the book royalties.

So here’s the giveaway. I’m going to give five new copies of “Like Me” to the first five people who email me at anita@sisterfriends-together.org but before you dash off an email, keep reading because I want to ask a favor. If you’re straight, don’t send an email. If you’re gay or lesbian and live in the assurance of who you are before God don’t send an email. If you can only read one language and that language happens to be Lithuanian don’t send an email.

Instead please let these five copies go to five people who right now are standing in that uncertain place where so many of us stood at one time and who need so much to be encouraged in their journey to truly know they are God’s beloved just as they are and fully as they are. So if you’re cool beans being a GLBTQ Christian then put the brakes on your send button and those of you who are in need of a little hope right now send me an email and be sure to include your name and mailing address. The first five emails I receive will be sent copies of the book. No questions asked.

And it’s good for us all to be reminded now and again that the power of story isn’t that it’s told by a celebrity or hardbound under a full-color glossy cover jacket. The power of story is in the story itself and just like White and Wright you have a story to tell…spoken across a table, written in an email, posted on a blog, told over the phone, shared with a friend, revealed to a stranger…and telling your story has everything it needs to save a life.

Maybe two or three.

Whatever you do, never underestimate the power of your story.

Posted in Contests, Giveaways, and Games