Becket Cook, a successful Hollywood production designer, traded his gay lifestyle for a new identity in Jesus Christ. “I thought the whole purpose of my life and meaning of my life was finding true love in another human being – in a guy – and finding success in my career,” he explained.
At a very young age, he said that he was already attracted to the same sex. Being so young, he had to keep it to himself. So he dated girls in elementary school and was even steady for him until high school. But it was all a front.
He said that after college, he moved to LA to pursue a career in creative arts like acting and writing. That was when he came out gay to everyone and embraced homosexuality as his identity.
Cook had same sex relationships but to no avail. He would end up breaking up with them and would blindly hope that the next one would be better. But he was wrong. He would end up alone again after being cheated on.
“At this point in my life, I was very successful in my career as a set designer, production designer. I mean, I was doing covers for Vogue and for Harper’s Bazaar. I worked with a lot of pop stars like Katy Perry and Paris Hilton and Oprah,” he said. He went to all the big parties but that was when he began to question his path of life.
I was like, is that all there is to life? Just going to parties for the rest of my life, is this what it’s all about? And I really started to panic. I was overwhelmed with a sense of emptiness,” he concluded.
With these questions in mind, he began to wonder. And that was when God intervened. He told the story of how God worked in his life. “I got back to LA and got busy with work for about six months. I was at a coffee shop in Silver Lake with my best friend. And he was gay too. And we noticed, shockingly, that there was a table next to us with Bibles on the table. This was the first time I’d seen a Bible in public in Los Angeles ever.”
Out of curiosity, he asked them if they were Christians. Seizing the opportunity, they told them about their faith and the Gospel. Cook asked them what they believed about homosexuality and they promptly answered that they believed that it was sin. Instead of being offended, Cook said that he actually appreciated how frank and honest they were.
They invited Cook to come to church that Sunday. In response, Cook stammered, “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to go to your church, but I’ll think about it.’ And then the following Sunday, I wake up and I’m like, ‘I guess I’m just going to go to this church today.’”
“The pastor comes out and he starts preaching on Romans chapter seven and something strange starts happening. Everything he was saying, every word he was saying, every sentence he was saying started to resonate this truth in my mind, in my heart, and I didn’t know why. I was on the edge of my seat, literally on the edge of my seat.”
Then the Holy Spirit changed something in Cook and at that moment, he said, “I knew into the core of my being that being gay was no longer who I was. But I didn’t care. Like I had just met Jesus Christ.”
“My hope is that people will realize how much more amazing it is to deny yourself and follow Christ rather than to just give in to sin now just to satisfy some immediate need. It’s not happiness from the world. It’s a joy that comes from Christ.” he concluded.