Carrie Prejean: A Tale of Courage

Written by Gail Powell

It was a beautiful, crisp morning when I attended the first service of the day at the Rock Church on Sunday, April 26th. It was also to be an auspicious morning as we were honored to have as our guest-Miss California Carrie Prejean. This lovely lady was the Miss USA pageant contestant who answered the question from Judge Perez Hilton at the Las Vegas contest last weekend.

Afterwards, the repercussions and accusations flew far and wide. Both Carrie and Perez became the object of bloggers and Twitter's ire and heated discussion regarding gay marriage, and indirectly-the still festering Prop. 8 debate.

After some invigorating musical worship, Carrie was introduced by Miles and she came out to rapturous applause from a worshipful audience who clapped heartedly at every mention of her courage and honesty. Carrie spoke candidly about the two weeks prior where she excelled and advanced at every stage of the pageant process. She also mentioned that she didn't even know who Perez Hilton was at first-thinking that it was "Paris Hilton" who was to be the judge. Little did she know of Perez Hilton being the lion laying in wait for her with that loaded question about Carrie's take on the merits of gay marriage.

Carrie mentioned how she decided to "go for it" when she realized who and what she was being asked about at the point. She also said how she ceded control over to God and put her trust in Him. After she lost the contest and came up runner-up ("the most famous first runner-up in history" she has been called, Carrie didn't even realize what all the fuss and ruckus was all about! It was about HER! She had captured the love and heart of a nation that had seen an honest, sincere person speaking "her truth" despite political correctness and pageant correctness that defines a "good answer" as a "neutral answer."

Miles finally mentions the Book of Esther in the Old Testament Bible as telling the story of Carrie. What an honor it is from God to have your story and testimony aligned to such a tale of courage in the Bible! Strangely enough, the book of Esther does not mention once the name of God and it is not filled with moral teachings or warnings about disobedience. It is simply the story of a beauty queen--Jewish Esther--who catches the eye of the King and marries him. There were political plottings against the Jews at this time and Esther's brother implored her to speak to the King about saving the Jews, but it was considered to be a dangerous thing even for a Queen to do! But Esther was not to be daunted and courageously spoke up to the King who agreed with her and punished the Jew's enemies.

The moral of the story of Esther is that God loves courageous and bold people, and we can also learn that God will use whatever circumstance He chooses for His Glory and our good. We can trust his faithfulness through good times and bad, as long as we remain obedient.

Carrie Prejean is a wonderful, lovely Christian woman and it was so gratifying to hear directly from her this day. The Rock Church is honored and lucky to have her as a valued parishoner and ministry member. God Bless Carrie Prejean!