This morning I woke up from a massive migraine before the sun had even cracked the horizon– it felt what I remember hangovers feeling like years ago, but multiplied by ten.
As the day goes on I realize I’m on the verge of a different kind of hangover: a vulnerability hangover.
I didn’t know what one was until my friend Reba Riley used the term a while ago, but as the day wears on I’m keenly aware that I’m about to have my first one.
My book Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith is on sale November 7th, which is just 11 days from now, 
and I’m finally holding the final hardback versions in my hands today. Sure, I’m excited– launch day is almost here! But as I flipped through the pages last night and today, I also experienced what I can only imagine is the early onset of a vulnerability hangover… because I wrote this book a little differently than I’ve ever written anything before.
Yes, Unafraid tackles so many of the topics people might expect– but so much of this book came from a part of me I don’t write from nearly often enough… the most vulnerable places inside my heart.
This is a book where I get raw and emotionally transparent in a way I’ve never done before. And while I am more excited about this book than any work I have ever produced in my life, I have a vulnerability hangover setting in as I realize that there’s no turning back– in 11 days the most vulnerable and sensitive places inside my heart and my spiritual journey will be sitting on store shelves across the country, for anyone to see.
Yes, some people occasionally spend the day with their head under the covers because they drank too much, and some of us do it because we shared the deepest parts of us before we fully realized the significance of that.
Thankfully I’ve already had a little bit of time to get used to the vulnerability hangover I feel coming on, because a number of amazingly insightful people I admire have already had the chance to read Unafraid. Here’s what some of them have to say:
“Offers a life-boat to Christians who have been taught a frightening caricature of biblical faith and to recognize gospel faith that is joyous, life-affirming, and emancipatory.”
— Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
“As Corey points out, too many of us say ‘God is Love’ but actually believe in a God who is Fear. Through these pages find a new path to love.”
— Diana Butler Bass, author of Grounded: Finding God in the World, A Spiritual Revolution
“Vulnerable, passionate, and honest, Corey empowers us to let go of our anxieties, to take a chance on believing
again, and to experience God with utter freedom, the way we were meant to.”
— Matthew Paul Turner, bestselling author of When God Made You, Churched, and Hear No Evil
“In this compassionate book, Corey reminds us that we can face life unafraid.”
— Carol Howard Merritt, author of Healing Spiritual Wounds
“Unafraid will lead other terrorized believers into the sun-drenched lands where God is revealed as love. Will help many, many people retain or recover their Christian faith.”
— Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, and author of Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God
“Feels like a conversation you’d have with a good friend. This vulnerable and engaging book puts into words what many Christians have felt too afraid to say.”
— Caleb Wilde, author of Confessions of a Funeral Director
I’m humbled that some folks have already found Unafraid to be a useful conversation partner on this unpredictable spiritual journey, and I’m grateful that they’ve experienced it as a vulnerable and compassionate conversation with a friend– because that’s all I’d really like to be.
But yeah… it’s also true that I feel a massive vulnerability hangover coming on. (Wait, please tell me that I’m not the only one out there who has experienced this??)
If you’d like explore how your faith and life might grow, change, or even come back alive, once we break free from all the ways that fear has crept in, I’d invite you to preorder your copy of Unafraid, right here. As a bonus, if you register your purchase you’ll get access to a soon-to-come private Facebook group where I’ll be interacting with you on a more personal level in the weeks and months to come!
(And we can even talk about these vulnerability hangovers together)
