By Dave Andrusko

Editor's note. I know a lot of people will want to comment on this. Please write me at daveandrusko@gmail.com.

Although the talent on display may be decidedly uneven, my wife and I never miss "American Idol." We are hooked, because what you see is a vivid reminder that there are musical diamonds in the rough just waiting to be discovered.

How fitting that I should have my first exposure to "My Chance," an extraordinarily sensitive and powerful pro-life song performed by Jaime Thietten, on Tuesday afternoon, hours before AI. When NRL Convention Director Jacki Ragan Im-ed me a link, it came with Jacki's highest commendation. Had Jaime been available, she would have been a prominent part of NRLC's 2009 national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jaime Thietten

While she was unfamiliar to us, Jaime is hardly a newcomer or an unknown. She's been in the music business for ten years. She came to our attention because a grassroots pro-lifer saw that "My Chance" had just received the "Song of the Year" award at this year's Momentum Award ceremonies in Nashville. (I've subsequently learned that The Momentum Awards, now in it's 4th year, are the premier award recognition program for Christian independent artists.)

You don't have to be a music critic to recognize talent this awesome. Half-way through "My Chance," it's clear that Jaime's voice is a gift from God.

You can summarize "My Chance," as you can anything, in a handful of words. But short does not mean simple. As pro-lifers we know that "abortion," while only three-syllables long, packs as much emotional freight as any word in the English language.

Early in "My Chance" we learn that the woman has had an abortion which, as an older woman, she grievously regrets. The lyrics are subtle but you don't need the musical video to know how deep are her wounds. (You can watch the video at Jaime's website--www.jtmusic.net.)

When they learned she was pregnant they decided to name the child "Chance." In anticipation, she buys him the "cutest shoes." But told they were "too young to raise a son" and "promised we'd never regret it," she has an abortion. But now "each day we pray that God will understand." Heartbroken, she misses "My Chance."

As the video concludes the woman, much older now, is looking upward, holding the baby shoes she'd purchase lo those many years before. The title's double meaning is revealed in the final verses: "We never got the second chance. He was my one, my only chance. I missed my chance."

There is a youtube video that tells the "Story Behind the Song" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcBmtaeCDNA). Along with Rick Shadrick and J.T. Tallent, the lyricists, Jaime discusses the marvelous way the song came together. All three are solidly pro-life.

At times almost overcome with emotion, Jaime quietly talks about how she and her husband have tried unsuccessfully for a decade to have children. "This song has a little bit of a deeper meaning for me," she says. Jaime is able to see the situation from both sides--families that desperately want children but can't, and women who are pregnant "and don't want their children."

Barely able to speak Jaime says that people "are under the impression "that if the baby is not wanted, then it doesn't need to come into the world. And that's not true because a baby is always wanted. It might not be wanted by you, but it is going to be wanted by someone else, like me."

As if speaking directly to a young girl who is deciding whether to have an abortion, Jaime pleads, "Give that baby a chance. Give me a chance to be a mom. And I think your life will have much bigger meaning--you can be a hero to this baby."

You can watch the video itself at www.jtmusic.net and the inspirational story behind "My Chance" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcBmtaeCDNA.

Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com 

Part One