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SCHWARZENEGGER CREDITS "THE MAN UPSTAIRS"! Arnold gives credit to God on his "Hour"! Reported By: René de Jong Monday, October 7, 2002 Hey TheArnoldFans, I was watching the tube today (Sunday Morning) when I should have been doing homework and saw Arnold on the Hour of Power at the Crystal Cathedral. He talked about how he gives thanks to God and Robert Schuller for inspiring him to advocate kids and their respective programs. Reported by Lydia Rose Proenza at HourofPower.Org: "It is a great pleasure and an honor for me to be at the Crystal Cathedral because I have been a great admirer of this Cathedral, you and your work and your entire family," Arnold Schwarzenegger told Dr. Robert H. Schuller last Sunday. "You are spectacular. You are a hero." Almost twenty years ago, a young actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger sent Robert Schuller a letter after watching the Hour of Power. "You are doing a great job. Keep up the good work," he wrote. This led to the two men becoming pen pals and members of a mutual admiration society. "I have gotten the most wonderful letters from Dr. Schuller through the years," Arnold says. "He would write to me after seeing one of my movies." One of the most memorable letters was the one in which Schuller wrote, "Arnold, I just watched Commando." In retelling the story, Arnold covered his eyes and said, "Ahhhh nooo." In that particular film, Arnold had killed over 240 people. "That was something he shouldn't have seen," Arnold says. But Schuller never criticized, he only congratulated Arnold for his acting and told him that the strong action heroes he portrayed in movies gave him the opportunity to become a powerful and positive role model for young people. "I got so much inspiration from your letters," Arnold told Schuller, "Because you always focused on the positive about the characters I played. I want to thank you for motivating me to start doing family movies and to make me see that I could become an activist to inspire and motive children to become winners in life." Who would have thought that the "Terminator" would have credited a pastor for refocusing his film career and for inspiring and motivating him to become a children¹s advocate. What becomes evident when hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger speak about children is that this man known for his strength and toughness actually has a big heart and is a champion of children everywhere. Despite fame and fortune, Arnold is a man who values family and faith above all. In the make-believe world of tinsel town, he puts his family-oriented value system first and foremost. He and his wife, successful television journalist Maria Shriver, have four children and family comes first to the powerful couple. "We all sit down to dinner every night," he says. The children share their daily experiences and voice their questions to us. The entire family attended The Glory of Easter at the Crystal Cathedral this year. When Dr. Schuller asked if they would return to see The Glory of Christmas, Arnold said, "We'll be back!" Raised in a poor and proud old-fashioned family in Austria, Arnold says that they didn¹t have much in the form of material things, but he and his siblings had a lot of love, attention, discipline and strictness from their parents. He got into bodybuilding when he was playing soccer as a young man and the team started working out with weights to gain strength and improve their game. "I realized the potential of bodybuilding when my strength increased by 300% in a very short time," he revealed. Soon he was entering and winning competitions and ended up becoming the world champion. However, his big dream was to come to America. "I had this very clear vision and I thank God for creating this vision for me," he says. Eventually his dream became a reality. He went from a champion in bodybuilding to working his way up in the movie industry. "Eventually my dream became a reality," he says. And the rest is history. Fast-forwarding to Arnold¹s career history, soon he began to see the possibilities of using his reputation as a champion athlete and a movie action hero to become a children¹s activist. "Children are the most important thing to me because I truly believe that they are our future, and if we don't take care of them, then our future will be falling apart," he says. Arnold has been involved with the Special Olympics since his mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, developed it to encourage developmentally disabled children with the spirit of achievement and competition. Ten years ago, Arnold got involved in after school programs for inner city children. Soon he realized that this was not just an inner city problem, but much more widespread. "When kids cause trouble, it costs the states billions of dollars for drug rehabilitation, incarceration and other programs," he says. "In California, we realized that this was a problem because the politicians were not doing their jobs in Sacramento," he added. "I felt we had the constitutional power to create an initiative, so I started working with budget directors and constitutional lawyers to put together an initiative." Arnold's current children¹s advocacy endeavor is California¹s Proposition 49, which will be on the ballot this November and is designed to provide after-school programs for all children in the State of California without the need for additional taxes or taking funds from existing programs. While Prop 49 focuses on providing after-school services for inner city and needy children, the program will also target the millions of children of middle and high income families who also stay home alone after school. "When schools ends at 3 o¹clock every afternoon, millions of children in California and all over the country go to an empty home," Arnold says. "Half of these kids come from one-parent homes and the other half from homes where both parents need to work outside the home to make ends meet." Many of these children go to shopping malls or video arcades; they get into trouble and ruin their lives because they don't have proper adult supervision after school. They get involved in juvenile crimes, gang violence, teen pregnancy and drug use. "We need programs to provide children with education, mentoring and coaching so they can do something productive with their lives," Arnold says. "We need programs that will give these children a positive direction." Arnold Schwarzenegger's promotion of Proposition 49 is the first time in the history of the Crystal Cathedral and the Hour of Power that Dr. Robert H. Schuller has allowed someone with a political agenda to use the ministry as a forum to address the people and ask for votes. "I'm so enthused about Proposition 49," Schuller said. "I think everybody should vote for it." Proposition 49 is a bipartisan issue to benefit the children of California. Arnold is hoping that Prop 49 will eventually become a national and international program. "This is really a nationwide and worldwide problem," Arnold says. Dr. Schuller called Arnold Schwarzenegger "A Miracle Man." And Arnold replied, "I just want to say thank you very much for listening. I would not be where I am today but for the great guidance of God our Lord. So, thank you God, thank you for everything." Thanks to "Chad" for the tip! ----------  |