Bring Glory to Your Gift

God's Coloring Book. You may have never heard this song. Charley Pride's wife called Dolly Parton and asked her if Charley could record her song. The response was "Only if I can sing it with him." Charley Pride has a stretch of road in Mississippi named Charley Pride Highway. The Texas Rangers named their spring training field Charley Pride Field. He recorded 497 songs, 52 of which were top ten and 29 charted number 1. He has 3 Grammy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The fourth of eleven children, he grew up in a shack in the Mississippi Delta. He had expressed a vision. "I used to sit on the porch and look up and I said boy how’d it be to float on them clouds? And I’d think of that, you know when I was little. So when I saw Jackie Robinson go to the major leagues I said, there’s my way out of the cotton field." Pride embarked on a career as a baseball pitcher and made it to the farm team of the New York Yankees. He later played on a semi-pro team in Montana where he began to venture out and sing.

He decided to try his luck in Nashville and with the help of Chet Atkins and other promoters his great gift was discovered. As the first black superstar in country music he overcame many challenges, including racial barriers that existed at that time. He was quickly accepted by many famous country performers and Willie Nelson went as far as kissing him on the lips in front of a crowd. He also traveled to perform in Ireland in the middle of political turmoil with no reservation, and sung the famous "Danny Boy" for a crowd that sang with him so loud that he stopped and let them sing.

When Charley Pride realized he was only going to go so far in baseball he courageously discovered and developed a second God-given talent that would impress the whole world. The lesson being that he was a fearless man who loved God and loved people but would not be denied success as he also demonstrated tremendous resolve in pursuing his mission. Thousands, if not millions, of people have been blessed by his example and songs such as "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'".