May 12, 2009

When God Calls a Beauty Queen

I'm not a beauty pageant fan. I'd rather watch NCIS or Monk. But I've become somewhat of a fan of Miss California, Carrie Prejean. The 21-year-old from San Diego didn't wake up one morning and decide to become Christianity's new spokesperson for traditional marriage...but she did. And she's not the most vocal advocate, just the most visible. During the Miss USA contest, which Miss NC won, Carrie affirmed her conviction that marriage should be between one man and one woman. Since then, a very questionable, semi-nude, topless photo of her (when she was 17) has been published, followed by a dozen more; the dozen more were photoshopped (fake). The other was taken by a female friend. Ok, there's a lot more to the story (such as whether she violated Miss California pageant rules) and all the details may never be known. I certainly don't have all the details and I'll leave them up to people who have nothing better to do with their time.

More to the story . . . Alysha S. Castonguay, now Miss Rhode Island USA, intentionally posed for similar pictures but no one is calling for her crown. Castonguay stated on CBS' The Early Show that Prejean's stance on gay marriage is the issue, not the photos. Really? Surely not! The state pageant is also investigating possible contract violations in her public appearances with groups that oppose same sex marriage.

Now to the point . . . when no person of faith was around, God once used a pagan named Abraham to begin a people of faith; he used a prostitute to protect twelve spies; and a sinful woman washed Jesus' feet, who himself preferred to be with tax collectors and sinners. Is this one of those times when God used a beauty queen to uphold traditional marriage? I don't know Miss California. Don't know what kind of person she is. And I have issues with her chosen direction in life which has called for her to (un)dress before millions of people and parade in a bikini on a catwalk. Yet, I love her statement to all of us regarding our faith: "Do not be silenced." So, I'm not going to judge Miss California. Rather, I'm choosing to thank God for her. She took a stand. She suffered tremendous emotional pain because of her stand. But she took a stand and then defended her stand.

Unbelievable! God decided to use a beauty queen who shows off entirely too much skin before millions of people on public TV all for the purpose of impressing judges and getting their vote of approval. Now, if God had asked me I would have chosen a different spokesperson. But he didn't ask me. He called Miss California, who said she sensed God's calling her to stick by her convictions when the question was asked. And she did. She did not disappoint. I applaud her. It would have been so easy to compromise. It would have been so easy to be politically correct.

God called a beauty queen. And she answered, "Yes, Lord, here I am."

At least that's what I think. --Terrell Lee

6 comments:

  1. This post is a true example of one of my favorite characteristics of the RCC family. No quick jump to judge, but instead a slow exploration of the situation to find God's hand at work. Love - what a joyous gift.

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  2. REMEMBER ESTHER????

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  3. This whole story has been fascinating to me because of all that's been involved. God may very well have used this woman for his purposes as a modern day mouthpiece. He is fully capable of that. One of the aspects of this story though seems to be the temptation to compartmentalize our lives as Christians. I don't mean this judgmental, because like Andrea I appreciate looking for how God is at work. But this is something we all wrestle with in different ways. We convince ourselves that this area of my life is sacred and I will stand up for it if needed, but this other area isn't as "sacred" and so it doesn't matter as much how I choose to live it. God uses broken vessels all the time...praise Him for that and for the way he works despite my own brokenness. The challenge however is to realize that every corner of our lives are to be surrendered to his purposes. Every aspect should pursue what it means to live like Christ. We won't always get it right...that's not the point. The point is to not be content with where we are, but yearn to be more than we are, reach out to be drawn closer to God’s heart, grow to be more like Him. I think Satan is satisfied every time we are content to separate Sunday from Monday thru Saturday.

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  4. Andrea, thanks for writing. Yep, you're so right. Those who receive much grace should eagerly give much grace. Since I need a few hundred truckloads of grace, I'm eager to give that to others. No doubt breaking news will continue to reveal details about Miss CA that we'd question or disapprove of, but this time God used her powerfully.

    Anon, I remember.

    Mike, bullseye! It's easy to become blind to some parts of our un-Christlikeness when we stand up for what is right in our five minutes of fame. God's call is for 24/7 discipleship--looking, smelling, walking and talking like Jesus at all times--maybe especially when there's no camera recording our actions!.

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  5. Interesting thoughts guys. My personal thoughts were the same as Mike's and Terrell's. I was proud that she stood up for her beliefs but I had some confusion about why she was choosing to be there in the first place. To be honest I'm not a fan of such contests. All that said... God can and does use people who make bad decisions, I'm living proof of that.

    The thing that concerns me the most is it seems to me that we are going more and more in a direction where Christians are not being allowed to speak about their beliefs on morality with the same freedoms others enjoy. But didnt God tell us this would happen?

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  6. Todd,

    How right you are! Many people who scream the loudest for tolerance are frequently some of the most intolerant people. People like to receive tolerance but not extend it. Using biblical concepts, we like to receive grace but do not like to extend it.

    I fear Christians have been so tolerant that we've lost our foothold.

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