"Cake Like That...."

A pastor I know told me this story:

There was a woman in his congregation who baked a cake and gave it to him one Sunday to take home and enjoy. I think it might have been a birthday cake. So he brought the cake home and everyone in the family had a piece. But they found it tasted horrible. He told me the cake was so bad no one ate any of it and they threw the whole thing in the garbage.

Days later, he saw the woman again and she asked how he liked the cake she had made him. Such a question would present something of a moral dilemma for many Christians.

Is it okay to lie in such a situation, so as to not hurt the woman's feelings: "Oh, that cake was delicious! You really are quite the cook." Or should the truth be told: "That cake you made was terrible. We threw the whole thing in the garbage." Perhaps even adding, for emphasis, "It was so bad the dog wouldn't eat it."

How would you respond?

Well, this pastor, with wisdom that I think was akin to that of Solomon, responded, with a big smile, by saying:

"Cake like that don't last long in my house!"

The woman was pleased as could be to hear it.

My family still laughs over this story and, on occassion, we've been known to jokingly employ some variation of the clever rhetoric amongst ourselves.