by Melanie Hemry
Choose This Day
DEAN SIKES SHRUGGED HIS BOOK BAG OVER HIS SHOULDER AND TOSSED A FOOTBALL AS HE STEPPED OUT OF HIS HIGH SCHOOL IN CHATTANOOGA, TENN. WALKING ACROSS THE PARKING LOT, HE SMILED. AT 15, HE WAS A HAPPY KID WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE.
He’d been raised in a Christian home. Given his life to Jesus in grade school. Attended a great church and Christian schools. Climbing into the car with an older friend from church, Dean cracked jokes. There was nothing unusual about the day, or the situation. No warning bells alarmed when he went into his friend’s house. There was no hint of what was to come. At 4:30 that afternoon, Dean was sexually abused. The experience was…unimaginable. Back home, Dean smothered his pain and rage. Looking in the mirror, he didn’t see the confident person who’d looked back at him that morning. The boy looking back was bruised, broken and ashamed. Staring in the mirror, he hardened himself. He would never tell a living soul. 1 4 : B VOV
Prove It “My life looked great from the outside,” Dean remembers. “I had previously played quarterback on my football team. I played golf and taught tennis. “Inside, I simmered with anger. “My junior year, I failed PE. I refused to change clothes in the locker room. I was spiraling out of control, always looking for validation. In response, I dove into work. I went to work for the Republican Party. My plan was that at age 21 I would run for the state Legislature and win. At 25, I would run for Congress and win. At age 30, I would win a seat in the U.S. Senate. By 36, I would be the governor of Tennessee. “I still went to church. Still had Christian friends. Still dated Christian girls. By 21, I was working for a company developing shopping centers on the Eastern Seaboard. One day, in the most disrespectful way possible, I spoke to God:
