Freezing!

So I went to Magic mountain yesterday and did one of the things I love doing, freezing like a statue. People react to this in all sorts of ways, it is really interesting. Every time a person walks up to me I am trying to predict what their actions will be, that dosen't go so well. People are unpredictable, each one is sooo different. Some of the people can really annoy me when they pinch me, pick me, slap my butt. But those are some of the odd ways people react to me standing there frozen. So despite it just being fun and wanting to tell you about it (whoever "you" is). It kinda is such an example of the body of Christ. People are diverse, people are going to be different. They are going to react to things very differently. Sometimes it will be annoying. But WE have got to love them. Face it, we do a terrible job of loving people. No not just terrible we are failing. YOU AND I ARE FAILING! It's time you and I stop learn to love, we need to love the diversity inside and outside the body of Christ. We may not agree with what they are doing, but WE HAVE GOT TO LOVE THEM.

We Let the Fallen Die

Recently, I watched an episode of a show on ABC called What Would You Do? The show experiments with different situations and sees how people react to them, using hidden cameras to catch their reactions. The particular episode I watched included a section about people falling while walking on sidewalk. How long would it take before someone would reach out and help? The video below is a news clip showing security cameras at a hospital emergency room. In this video a lady collapsed in the emergency room and was ignored for 45 mins.

In New York a homeless man was beaten and then laid on the ground for 19 minutes as people ignored him, walked around him, and a couple of people even loaded groceries in a car as he lay next to it dying. Because no one made an effort to save him, when medical help finally did arrive he was already a dead man.

In the episode of What Would You Do? an actor who was dressed as a homeless man walked along a sidewalk, stumbled and fell to the ground. Person after person walked by and ignored the collapsed man who appeared to be in desperate need of help. After over 110 people walked around and stepped over the man finally a lady stopped and called 911.

When I was thinking about all of this I couldn’t stop wondering a couple things. Who in our own churches have fallen (spiritually), but we are choosing to step around them. Is there someone who is in deep need that you are ignoring? 110 people walked around and over a fallen man on a sidewalk, a woman collapsed on the floor of an emergency room and died because she was ignored for 45 minutes, a bleeding homeless man was walked around for 19 minutes and died because people didn’t stop to help. Who around us are bleeding spiritually? Who are we stepping over, trying to ignore their need? How long will it take for someone to stop 19 minutes? 45 minutes? Will you be one of the 110 people who pass by?

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

- Lk 10:33–35.

Are we going to be a people of compassion? Stop ignoring those who hurt! Bind up their wounds! Take care of them. Oil and wine were not cheap in bible times, but he chose to use them anyway. Do whatever it takes to heal those who are hurting, even if that means using precious recourses. Will you care for those around you who are broken (physically, emotionally, spiritually)? Or will you step over those who have fallen and let them die?

Credit Card Christians

Do you put sacrifices on your card?

I had the opportunity to spend a little time "alone" with God. I was sitting in our mall's food court praying for people silently as they walked by. It was a very intimate time with God. It was the first time for the past couple of weeks where I prayed for a long time but I didn't ask for ANYTHING FOR MYSELF. I only praised God and asked him to bless others. It's something I want to learn to do more often. But while I was sitting there, snacking on some french fries and praying, God brought something to my mind. This was it: What do we spend cash on and what do we put on our credit card?

Let me explain. When we use a credit card we are not paying upfront for what we receive. I think this credit card mindset has gotten ahold of our relationship with God. We want God to fulfill all his promises now. We want to be blessed by him NOW, but we are not willing to obey him until later. We like to try and put sacrifice on our card, so we can get the blessing's now. I am not trying to say that we pay for our salvation, we don't. Salvation is a gift from God. This is simply an analogy to help us see our selfishness. What we need to start doing is offering our lives as holy and living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1).

Jesus already payed the cash upfront. Now we have to love God and love others. Right now we need to stop swiping the credit card and completely hand ourselves over to God and then, only after that, will we have the opportunity to live with God for eternity. So are you going to put everything upfront and allow God to work miracles through you or are you going to keep going with the credit card Christian mindset? Please don't leave a cent in any other place, for this isn't an investment, this is love.

Thanks for reading this and please comment on this or send me an email: magicbymaddux@gmail.com

Brandon Maddux

A Letter from Heaven

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The following is a fictional letter that gives a perspective of how heaven could be. This letter was inspired by a picture I had in my head of standing in front of the gates of heaven and seeing hell through the expression of someone’s face who was entering it.

Dear Human Race,

Nothing that is written about heaven can ever fully describe what I see before my eyes. It’s greatness is beyond the understanding of the human mind. The beauty is never ending. Oh how joyful it is to praise God for how great He is. I could never imagine spending eternity anywhere else. I often wondered what heaven would be like, but this, I could not of ever thought it, I could never have dreamt it.

I will warn you, however, of that other place. I am blessed to say I never saw it, seeing the expression on their faces as they went into it was too much for me. You thought you knew suffering now! What about that man who was sweating blood at the sight of the place, he hadn’t even entered it yet. He clenched his jaw so hard some of his teeth dropped out of his mouth and fell into what I guess was the lake of fire below him. I saw a ripple of fire in the lake through the reflection of his eyes. But then I hear you joke about this place, I have heard those of you who call yourselves Christians instruct others to go there, joking or not I can already see them following your instructions. Afraid, I stand close to the gate of heaven as it is opened for me for I can’t bear to see them suffer. For I know that you were too entrenched with the world to care about them, that you would put money, cars, clothing, girls, jobs, and your favorite tv show before them.

But don’t be afraid, God wrote instructions. Read them, follow them, it even works as a light to find your way. I can look down now and see the lights shinning, oh how few there are. Find other lights around you and be with them so you can better see where you are going. Don’t ever ignore anyone around, or their light may grow dimmer.

Now as I write this Jesus is preparing a place for some of you. Oh, how great it is here. His love shows through everywhere and everyone here. I pray that I see you here.

All Glory to God,
A Child of God

We are not perfect so come to God broken, asking for forgiveness so you get to experience how awesome heaven will be. If you are already saved, share this with others, helps others get the opportunity to be with God in heaven.

Thanks for reading,

Brandon Maddux, Author of AmbassadorForGod.com

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Please take the time to comment. I love to hear comments, questions or suggestions.
Also feel free to email me at: magicbymaddux@gmail.com

EVENTS: Coming soon… The Facebook Fast (Stop “poking” and start seeking God) and 2nd 3 Minutes of Prayer Event

Forgotten Commitment

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America is forgetting how to be committed. There is a steady increase
in divorces and so many American people jumping from job to job. Even some ministries have a hard time finding volunteers who are willing to stay committed for long lengths of time.

So what is a commitment? For the purpose of this post and the in this posts context commitment will be defined as:
Commitment: Pledging or promising involvement in an organization or relationship for a specified length of time or eternity.

Whether having to do with relationships or commitment to an organization we often do not think enough. For example, I participated on a forum in the creation of a website called teensforsave.com (Student Advocates for Vindicating Education). A leadership position for this group was offered to me and I accepted it without thinking it through much. Now I have not been able to spend a considerable amount of time working on any of our projects for months. Because I did not think enough before I made my commitment I have now abandoned them. When I made the spur of the moment decision I was sure I would have time to commit to this and that it was something that I wanted to be part of, but in truth God has other things for me to be spending my time on. I was not able to fully commit to it.

In Deuteronomy when talking about commitment it gives us an idea of how fully we should commit ourselves to things, if it is truly Gods desire for us to commit to them. It says to commit yourself wholeheartedly (Deut. 6:6), completely (Deut. 11:18, and without reservation (Deut. 26:16).

But this is so far from how my commitments look. I decide to do something and partly participate. Isn’t this what all of our commitments look like? Do you wholeheartedly commit to things? Do you think it through before committing yourself? Do you ONLY commit to the things God tells you to commit to? Do you go to God in prayer before making a commitment… any commitment? No wonder we are not able to carry through with what we commit to. So many of our commitments are not things we want to spend our time on and not things God wants us spending our time on.

Maybe marriages would not fall apart if every couple came before God and made the commitment ONLY with God’s affirmation. Maybe employees would not be hopping from job to job if they were to commit to their job wholeheartedly. Lets commit ourselves to a few specific things and stay headed in God’s direction, following God’s directions. Lets keep ourselves so committed to God that we push aside the distractions Satan tries to confuse us with.

I got the opportunity to talk to a customer at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit for a long time. This man, a friendly customer who came at least once a week, would always complain about the amount he had to work and how he worked so much he didn’t get to spend much time with his family. He seemed to love his family, but I realized he wasn’t as committed to them as he sounded. He would come by the restaurant as he was headed home for work, he never came in to eat with his family. He would spend normally at least 45 min. eating and reading a magazine, often he was there for two hours. If he truly was committed to his family, if he wanted to see them wouldn’t he of headed home as soon as possible?

This situation is a great example of how we often commit to things with our mouth, he said he wanted to spend time with his family. But when it comes down to it our hearts are not in it, he stayed in the restaurant for hours, instead of spending that time with his family. He spoke what he knew was best to be committed to, but he didn’t actually commit.

If you are going to commit to something, desire it in your heart, proclaim it with your mouth, and then act it out. DESIRE, PROCLAIM, AND ACT. If either of these are missing you will quickly slip away from that commitment.

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Stay Committed,
Brandon Maddux

I want to hear your FEEDBACK, comment or email me at magicbymaddux@gmail.com

The Post-Loving Church

I started writing a post for this blog about transparency and our relationships, but I had to stop. I realized I can’t ask for you to be open and transparent. Every post I put on this blog I am afraid of negative and judgmental responses that I might receive. I listened to a fellow teenager talk and watched him cry about how when you are open in the church about your brokeness you are looked down upon. So I stopped and wrote the following. Some of this you may not agree with and none of it is meant as a blanket statement. Please read the following as I write from my heart on this subject.

We are the Church (Yep you are the Church)! What have we done? Instead of creating a community where people are encouraged to do better and to be open, we have created a community where people are judged for their brokeness.

Are you any better then the person you pray for? No! I have sinned! You have sinned! We are all broken. So stop judging Church. Someone told me about a friend of theirs who would not come to our youth group because they are afraid of us judging them, they are afraid we would look down on them.

Well congratulations Church (all of Gods people), look at what WE have done! We have made a judgmental community prone to rejecting the broken and we even have a reputation for it. When are we going to wake up and realize that we are all broken, that none of us is better then the other, and that our job is to love the broken. You are not better then the drunk man who just walked into the back doors of your church. You are not better then the teen whose arms are full of scares. You are not better then the man in the parking lot screaming at his wife. You are not better then the two men who walked in holding hands, the two woman kissing. You are just better at hiding your brokeness. Yes, you may be healed by God, but you still fall daily. When will you open your eyes and see your own faults?

No wonder America has been called a post-Christian nation! We have a post-loving Church. Yes there are those of you who are not judgmental, but too many of US are.

So I cry, Wake up Church! WAKE UP! I see your influence fading. When are you going to start loving others again? When are you going to realize that God loves everyone of these individuals despite their problems. When will you begin to love every one of them. Church you are not fulfilling your purpose by judging others, let God do the judging.

EDIT 4/1/09 12:02pm: Changed This: Church, you will go extinct, if you stop loving, if you keep judging. To This: Church you are not fulfilling your purpose by judging others, let God do the judging.
Reason For Edit: I incorrectly worded what I was thinking and overstated it, in an attempt to make a powerful statement, but ended up creating a sentence that was incorrect.

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Love Everyone,
Brandon Maddux

Related Post: Love Everyone Even If They Don’t Love You Back

Purify Infections

A while back I saw the movie, The Dark Knight. The online Christian reviews of the movie talked about how the movie was too dark, however everyone I have talked with thought it was great. I walked out of the movie saying that it was ok, but I knew in my heart that for some reason I didn’t like the movie.

During the movie whenever the character two-face came on the screen I would look down at these two straws in a cup in front of me. I couldn’t get myself to look at two-face, with half his face destroyed. At first I just pushed it off on that the special effects were really good and they made him look disgusting and still realistic. However I have watched more disgusting creatures in movies before and have been able to look at them.

I realized why I couldn’t get myself to look at two-face, it was that I was looking at myself. I couldn’t look him in the eye’s because it was reminding me of how my life was.

I have been so use to asking for healing and prayer for my one side of my face (life) that looks ok. However, I have hidden the other side from even many of my friends. This side of my face is full of bleeding infected wounds, scars and scabs (sins). Now I have turned this side of my face (life) to God and His healing is working incredibly. He is forgiving me for all these sins on my face, or in my life, that I have hidden for so long and in His incredible grace, despite my sin, He still accepts me as His child and loves me unconditionally even though I had hidden one side of my face, or life from Him.

This character in this movie showed me that I was not letting God heal many of my wounds (sins) and I was even picking at some of them. You are already thinking about those sins that cover the other side of you face. I pray that you show God your wounded side of your face and ask for healing. Like me, you may be shamed of this side, but the wounds will just continue to get infected and take over your body if you don’t ask God to heal them. I kept pushing my sins off as small compared to other people, but God doesn’t compare us to other people he compares us to His perfect law. Open up to God and let him heal you. Start asking God to heal the part of you that is truly broken. Stop hiding!

God is waiting to fully heal you. He is waiting to purify your infected blood. Turn your face and show Him your wounds, confess to Him your sins. Stop hiding from Healing. Start running to His love.

I understand that I am only a teenager, so I want to learn from your life experience. Please comment and share about turning your wounded half of your face to God.

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Invite His Healing,

Brandon Maddux

Why Can’t You Love My Generation?

The following is something that I wrote in my Journal (yes guys can have journals) that I think adults need to hear. I am not trying to be disrespectful. I want adults to realize that this generation needs their friendship and love, and without their friendship this generation is lost.

I wrote this on 2-17-09

“Why can’t adults stop faking like they don’t know what teens are going through? Time and again I hear adults say, “I was a teen once.” Then why can’t adults try to remember what it was like to be a teen and lovingly understand that we are messed up? I hear adults complain about teens using drugs, they act like teens are so much worse then them. Don’t adults sin? So what if you don’t do drugs, do you get drunk? Do you swear? Do you watch junk on the internet? Do you steal? Are you perfect? What gives you the right to look down on this generation for their sins? Maybe instead of looking down on this generation you could come beside us and helps us walk out of sin. Why can’t you love my generation? If you would only stop for a second and realize that behind the graffiti there is a heart searching for your love. Yet you adults simply reject us again and again. You yell at a teen for not wearing a helmet, but ignore the cuts on his arms. You ignore the very fact that without your love my generation will continue to kill itself. I have heard from teens the way you speak to us. Don’t you realize how much I love this generation? Do you not hear them crying? Do you not see the blood dripping? Do you not feel their hearts breaking? How long will you continue to be an adult and scorn this generation? Why do you want to add to their depression? Couldn’t you stop for a moment and be this generations friend?”

I understand that this post is probably controversial and some may see it as disrespectful. So please tell me what you think and comment. Don’t rub this post off, if you thought this is disrespectful, rude, or depressing, then this post was for you. What will you do with it?

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Hear Us Cry For You,

Brandon Maddux

Crushed

Here is a great article written by a friend of mine, Hannah Silvers, it really made me think.

"This is about of one of those moments...where I think I'm being broken so I can be remolded more like Christ.

I was just reading in the book Ten Things I Wish Jesus Never Said by Victor Kuligin...

These thoughts had been through my head before, but this book summed it up, and basically re knocked on my door even harder than when I was thinking about it before....you know how we say we'd die in order to save a loved one's life??
Like we'd take a bullet for our family or best friend?

I was one of those people, and I truely would like to think I'd do so for the people closest to me...if I was ever in the situation.

But do I treat them like I love them...on a regular basis?

An example used in the book was about a couple courting...and how the guy would open the door for the girl during the courtship, but once they were married it didn't happen anymore.

We said we'd do our best...but we don't really. We do the least amount that is required... We never do our best.

Are we really there to help out people in need?

Do we really love like we say we do?

I am continually being moved by this-"If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves wether or not we are really following Jesus." -Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz

It's not just something you see and never struggle with ever again. This is DAILY. An even larger effect is made on me every time I remember this... I struggle. It's such a challenge. It's a huge challenge to love people so much that you put them BEFORE yourself!

Do I really love those people so much that I'd die so they could live?
...Does it really show?
Do they really know how much I love them...by my actions?
By me giving up my selfishness...and putting them first?

Do I really?" - Hannah Silvers

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below or send me an email at magicbymaddux@gmail.com

Brandon Maddux

Lonely America

Here is a video I wrote and edited. It is the best way I could think of to get across my thoughts about the current economy and how we should be living. I am just going to start living out the idea presented in the short video, please join me in the process.

Thank you so much for watching this video! Please comment and let everyone know what you thought.

let's live in Simplicity,
Brandon Maddux

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Love Everyone, Even If They Love You Back

So far I have not posted anything radical on this blog, well that’s about to change. From here on out I want to have posts that will challenge your beliefs and get you thinking about big, important issues. My hope is that this post will challenge your views and give you a new perspective on a specific community.

In this post I would like to give my opinion about the homosexual community. It is obvious that more and more people are “coming out of the closet”. Laws are being passed to make it legal for them to be married, adopt children, etc… So what do we do with all this as Christians? How do we love them, but still hold to our biblical standards?

I could open this post by giving biblical proof that we are not supposed to be homosexual, but I will assume that you already know this. I have recently watched movie by Dan Merchant called Lord, Save Us from Your Followers. This movie has really presented how us Christians, just do not love like we should love. We say we are supposed to love one another, but then we push away the homosexuals. Look at it from their perspective, “These Christians say they love everyone, but then all they want to do is to take away my freedoms.”

So how do we deal with this? We need to vote according to our beliefs, but how do we let this community know that God loves them? I discussed this subject with a Pastor and I think he and his church is a great example of how we can be accepting of this community. He had a couple, a lesbian couple, start attending to his church, they liked it and wanted to get involved. They wanted to serve at church! How should the Pastor have responded to this? What response did they expect to receive based off of the way Christians have constantly tried to take away their freedoms? The Pastor considered the situation and told them that they could serve at the church, but they could not hold a teaching or leadership position. Because of the Pastors acceptance this couple probably has a radically different view of Christians, they know that Christians do love them.

I am currently taking an Evangelism course through a Bible College. In this course I was able to read a book called Evangelism Outside the Box. This book represents a very new, but accurate way we need to be looking at evangelism. People no longer start believing because of the facts we give them, they start believing after they become part of our community. In a nutshell, it talked a lot about how people are community focused instead of focused on the truth. They find the truth through community.

Because of this focus on community we need to be bringing homosexuals into our churches, our bible studies, our small groups, instead of pushing them away. We need to let them know that they are accepted and that they are loved. Many of them see Christians as “Gay Haters”. Something about this needs to change, it’s time to be loving and accepting to a community who is searching for love.

I have a friend who works at Magic Mountain and I was chatting with him over IM. He told me that he had to work Gay Day at Magic Mountain. I don’t remember the exact words he used, but he said something like this, “They are all really nice… when they are not hitting on you. Sickos…”. Right then is when it registered, they can fill up an entire theme park with people in Santa Clarita who are searching for true love, the love their heart longs for. So I responded saying something like this, “Isn’t it awesome that there are that many people who are searching for God’s love! All we have to do is to present the Gospel to them in a way that they will understand.”

We need to stop pushing away the very community who is looking the hardest for love. This is the community of people who are trying anything and everything just to find love, to be loved. It’s our turn as Christians to stop being hypocrites, and start loving everyone… even if they love you back. We need to start accepting the community who desperately wants to be accepted.

So how do we apply this? Well, I am not completely sure… I guess the church I talked about above works as one example of application. Do we still vote against them? I think we should vote according to Biblical principles. the Bible defines marriage in a certain way so we have to vote that way. We need to be finding and inviting this community into our community so that they can experience Jesus’ love, and come to know Him. So, next time you talk to a man or woman who is a part of this community don’t reject them, accept them!

Here is another great example of how we can be excepting to this community. I got to speak with a politician on this subject, Cameron Smyth. He is the former Mayor of Santa Clarita, and now is a State Assemblyman. A great Christian man! I asked him: How do Christians reach out to homosexuals, a community who is searching for love and acceptance, while still voting their values? He responded by telling me about a homosexual couple he knows and that he is good friends with them, despite the way he will be voting. He loves them as individuals, but when he comes to the polls he is going to vote his values.

I think that right now, not the church, but individual Christ followers need to start reaching out to homosexuals in every day practical ways as in the examples that have been presented here. Leo Tolstoy said, “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.” I think this applys to everyone wanting to change the church, but not themselves. The church, family, and government are all built on the individual. To make a change in any one of these areas we have got to start by making a change in our own lives. Today, start reaching out, start showing the acceptance we have been shown.

Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment or by sending me an email at magicbymaddux@gmail.com

Thanks for reading this blog and thanks for helping me grow as one of Christ's followers,
Brandon Maddux

EDIT (10/28/08): "as long as they were not teaching their beliefs" changed to "but they could not hold a teaching position"

I Am Not Worthy of Their Trust

“I get so annoyed when someone does not trust me, in fact it bugs me more then most other stuff. I feel like they are keeping me from becoming more (a better friend, a better person, etc…) because they don’t trust me. When I am not trusted I feel excluded. Trust brings inclusion, inclusion builds better, deeper friendships… When I am trusted, just knowing that I am trusted makes me value that relationship more then others. I then feel more open to return the trust.” – Anonymous

I apologize that the above quote cannot be cited. As I begin to start building trust I will need to keep that quote above anonymous.


I have often questioned why people do not always trust me. I recently gave myself the answer when I told a secret one of my friends trusted me with to a group of friends. The reason people did not always trust me was because I am not worthy of their trust. I know there are a lot of bible verses about trust but I want to be able to speak about trust to non-Christians and have it make sense to them without having to cite any verses so that is what I will do in the rest of this post.

What are some things we can do to become trust worthy? First off as I was typing the above I started to type a sentence that would have said, “The secret was not the biggest secret…” We need to realize that no matter how big a thing someone trusts you with you must keep one secret just like you must keep the other. Secrets are secrets no matter what the size.

If we go blabbing off about this, that and the other thing, then how will people trust us? We must begin to value their trust and what they are trusting us with enough not to tell others. Why would someone trust you with something if the last time they trusted you you completely messed up?

I struggle with keeping secrets, I want to tell others. I however want to be a person who can be trusted, so it’s time I stop lying and start being trust worthy. Yep if you lie all the time people will not trust you. So join with me in an a hard task of becoming a person that people feel free to share struggles with, share ideas with, share there life with. Sometimes people won’t share something with us, but that’s ok, rejoice because of the trust you have gained.

Comment and let me know what you thought about this post. I hope someone actually reads this. If you do read this I would love to know by you either posting a comment or by sending me an email at magicbymaddux@gmail.com

We must begin to value their trust and what they trust us with enough not to tell others.

In enemies territory ready for battle!

When my brother woke-up yesterday morning he told me about a dream he had. A first I did not think much about it other then that it was kind of funny, but as I thought more about it I realized it is a great way to put into perspective of how lazy we (including me) can be as Christians.

So here is the dream as he had told it to me:
My brother and I were both dressed as super heroe’s (he did not specify the super heroe’s), in fact we were super hero’s with powers! My brother and I were in enemies territory ready for battle. You would think the next part of this dream talks about a battle we fought but it does not! We actually were sitting playing a board game, in the middle of enemy territory! Kyle, my younger brother described the game as a combination of The Game of Life Twists and Turns and risk (a strategy game).

I think this dream is worth more then face value. Kyle (my younger brother) and I both had been given gifts and we were even in the place where we could use them, but instead of using the gifts we played around. We had an opportunity to make a difference, we had been given the “power” to do it but we just sat. It sounds stupid to think that two super hero’s would sit when they had the chance to fight. It sounds foolish to think that we may have been more worried about our own self comfort then actually doing what had been planned for us to do.

This sounds like us as Christians today! We are given the opportunity to fight for what we know is right but we don’t. God has given each of us gifts so why are we not using them? “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. (1 Corinthians 12:7)” We are to busy spending time on things we wan to do. We are afraid of a chance of having some discomfort as we step out and use the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us. So instead of healing people, instead of leading people, instead of teaching people, instead of serving people, instead of impacting the world, we sit back and play a game, the game of life.

What an empty life this is! We are to afraid to take risks for God, but we will take risks for our friends or boy friends. We will twist and turn our lives for other people but not for God. God created us on this earth and any life without him as the focal point will be empty, without hope, without salvation, without life. We are too prideful to carry out the humble acts God asks of us, so we ignore what God says. We may say we read the bible but we ignore the verses that encourage us to change something, to stop doing something, to obey God. Our eyes rewrite the bible as we read it, as we ignore some of the verses, subconsciously we write our own translation, I call this translation the NLME. Selfishness is keeping us from truly reading God’s word and following what it tells us. What is a servant (Servant: a person devoted to his master) who never obeys his master, could he even then be called a servant? Then what is a Christian (Christian: Christ Follower) who does not obey and follow Christ?

This dream Kyle had has truth in it. We as Christians are simply not following God to the extent we should be (myself included). It is time to put the game of life away and follow Gods callings for our lives. When God brings you somewhere do not ignore the purpose he brought you there for! Instead use the “power” he has given you. Fight for what you know is right until you have no more strength and even then God will give you the strength. Love boundlessly. Obey God no matter what the cost. Stop rolling the dice, hand your future over to God.

We were placed on this earth with a purpose and we cannot ignore our purpose to serve God. I like to think of it this way: A solar panel has no purpose without the sun, it is just a hunk of metal! We have no purpose without God, God gives our lives purpose. We must recognize this and respond. How will we change our lives today? Are we going to stop playing games? Or will we sit there, wasting away the few years of life we get to live on this earth?

Go ahead and comment on this article! Tell me what you think! If you don’t want to make a public response then send me an email at magicbymaddux@gmail.com

We are in enemy’s territory ready for battle, will we chose to fight? (The newest version of the game of life where you have to make more choices as to where you will go and what you will do.) and a popular strategy game called

The Coolest Kid in Town!

We all have the desire to be accepted, we all want to be "cool". If you have looked outside lately you will notice how obsessed people are with being "cool".

As humans we want to know that people like us, it is hard when we are not accepted into cliques. However how far can you go with wanting to be accepted, when do you cross the line?

I have talked to a couple of young boys (5-6th grade) one of them was bragging about how he has had girl friends for two years. Another boy wants one really bad even to the point where he is not willing to hang with some of his older friends when girls are around. These kids are so focused on fitting in, they want girl friends so they can be "cool", we all want to be "cool".

When we get so caught up in becoming cool we quickly loose focus of what God wants us to do. Many kids who become "cool" get very prideful because they are "cool". The fact is that to follow God and do many of the acts he will ask of us, we must be humble. If we get so caught up in what our friends think of us will we have the power to stand up and not watch that bad movie that all of our friends want us to watch?

Pride to me is like a cage, we get trapped in it. The funny thing about this cage is the door is unlocked and we can come out whenever we want. However we get so stuck in our pride that we instead stand in the cage and brag to the person outside. "doesn't it look nice in here." "Look at how awesome it is top be 'cool'." "Come on just watch the movie, are you too nerdy to see it?" Do you hear what kids, teens and even adults are being told? The world presents this cage as if it were the greatest thing ever, but what is so great about being to prideful to obey God?

Another thing that is a problem when it comes to people being "cool" is that we often separate ourselves from certain people. Why? I think you know the answer to this one. "He is fat." "He is ugly." "He is way too much of a nerd." "She is too goofy." "She is too short." "He is too short." You see what I mean? When we are trying to be "cool" we look at others and decide who we want to hang out with according to who we think the rest of the world will accept as being your friends. I mean we don't want to be thrown out of the "cool" category by hanging out with a weirdo.

Let me tell you something my Pastor said up at a winter camp. These labels people are given, you are given does not mean a thing! Because you know what God says, you know what our savior says, YOU ARE LOVED! You may be over weight, but YOU ARE LOVED! You may be weird, but YOU ARE LOVED!

Have you started to understand through this article how stupid sounding this whole "cool" thing really is? Trying to be cool tends to pull us away from focusing on God, on our future, on our life in heaven. What does it matter if we are considered "cool" here? We are only going to be on this earth for a little while, then we get to live with a God who loves us.

So am I saying it is bad to try to look good? Am I saying that it is bad to fit in a little? I am not saying fitting in is a sin. You just have to keep focusing on God and make sure the world is not pulling you down. By all means look good, but don't let being "cool" cause you to dress inappropriately!

I hope this helped you have a new way to look at being "cool" and I would love it if you would comment on this to let me know what you thought. I would love to know if you think I was wrong at any point and please feel free to tell me about being cool from your perspective.

Click the Comment Button Below! If your perspective on being "cool" won't fit as a comment please feel free to email me at magicbymaddux@gmail.com

Thanks,

Brandon Maddux

Be Pruned

What... Drink Prune Juice? Uhhh... No, trim the bad things out of your life.

I was trimming the dead roses off of our rose bushes and realized how hard it can be and how long it can take to trim the roses out of the bush. This is a lot like when we are trying to clean up our life and live a better life for Christ. It is not easy! It could take a long time to get over your old addictions and completely trim out the "bad" roses. Along the way we might get a thorn or two in our hands, we will get persecuted for living a life for God.

We need to start trimming up our lives, pruning them, becoming more like Christ. Think of how beautiful a rose bush looks after it is all trimmed up, after the roses are gone. Our lives could be like that, they could be better if we would take the time to get rid of the junk in our lives. Yeah you might miss a thing or two so you won't be perfect, but think what better lives we could live for Christ if we really did put some focus on pruning.

My encouragement is to take action steps today that will help you prune your life. Make your life look like a beautiful rose bush. I am going to make a bigger attempt to read the bible daily as my action step so I learn how my life should look. If we know how we should be we will know what we should be getting rid of and don't worry the bible will tell you plenty of things you can get rid of from your life.

I hope this post was ecouraging to you, please comment on it and let me know what you think.