Uneaten Cupcakes     August 2004

My wife, Deborah, and I just returned last night from attending the U.S. Open at Shinnecock in the Hamptons of New York. I had the pleasure of attending the U.S. Open because Deborah gave it to me as a Christmas present this past season.

While staying at the quaint Huntting Inn in East Hampton, I was leafing through one of their many high society magazines and came across something quite interesting. Some charity had thrown a "Cupcake Ball", where each participant, upon arrival, received a very large, beautifully decorated, mouth-watering cupcake. Now I don't know what the significance of giving out the cupcakes was. However, I can tell you what I found significant. Amongst pages of pictures of these beautiful size 2 trophy wives and trophy wives-to-be, not a single one had taken a single bite of their cupcake. That is to say, each one had in their possession a cupcake, but not one was actually enjoying that delightful mound of carbohydrates and calories.

The more pictures that I looked at, the more amused I became. It became painfully obvious that, if you are going to be a size 2, you can have a cupcake, you simply can not consume it. Therefore it was an illusion that these beautiful women could enjoy this bounty of bakery bedazzlement, which they held in their hands.
It struck me that millions of people see heaven in a similar light. Here is this beautiful thing that beckons you. You want it terribly. But you are afraid of the side effect (the Christian walk) that comes before you receive eternal life in heaven.

Just like the cupcakes at the "Cupcake Ball", heaven is a free gift from our Holy Father. Why is it then that so many millions will never receive this free gift? Why is it that this thing that was created in total and complete beauty, something that everyone desires, is rejected or deferred by the vast majority?

I suggest to you that the reasons for it, as explained by those who refuse to receive the gift, are varied but overwhelmingly come down to ignorance of what the Christian walk means. Some believe that it requires personal enslavement; that those of us who live the Christian life don't have any freedom. But free will is a cornerstone of Christianity. Some believe that you must become exclusionary. Yet what other religion invites every one to come and partake? Some believe that Christians give up their sexuality and yet research demonstrates that the most sexually active and fulfilled people on earth are married Christians.

So how do we overcome that ignorance? Well, as you can imagine, I believe that the answer to this is very simple. We must inform the world as to what the Christian life is. When the Word of God was passed down in the oral tradition, that brought many people to the faith. And then, from Guttenberg's time on, the written tradition has brought many more. But now, my friends, it's time for (and may I say, more than time for) Christianity and Judaism to step into the 21st Century and provide the true Word of God in a medium that people will actually consume on a broad basis, and that of course is on video.

If you see heaven as an exclusive country club that you should be a part of, but, not too many others, then let's stay on the path that we're on. But if you see it as God sees it, as a home for everyone if you'll only trust in Him, then we need to all step up and all become a part of this magnificent offer. Some of you could give a dramatic gift, financially. Some could introduce us to others who have the same ability but who we are not connected to. Others of you could give of your own personal talents to Film the Bible. So many of you that read this newsletter give sacrificially each month and for that I am deeply and daily thankful. Possibly today you could think of one or two others that you know who might want to join this great mission and bring the filmed Bible into reality.

Now I can tell you for sure that if Deborah and I had been invited to the "Cupcake Ball", the picture of Deborah would have been of a woman with empty hands and frosting on her lips! What's more, Deborah wears a size 2 (or at least an even multiplier). Whatever her size, she'll always be my Cupcake and heaven will always be my destination. My only hope is that, with all of us working together on behalf of God that millions more can partake of this incredible gift that's being offered to all of us.