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

Announcements-

Keep updated about this blog and see what other people are saying about it by joining our FaceBook group.
Click Here to Join

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.

My First Post

So what is this blog all about? This is going to be my personal blog where I post about what I see happening in the world, the ideas I have that I want to share, and what God is teaching me. This blog is going to be awesome!

This Blog is called Don't Let Us because it is my request to not let us get caught up in the things in this world. Who is us? Everyone is us! Don't let others get caught up in this world, help them focus on God.

EDIT (10/28/08): I changed the name of the blog because I thought people would not look and read a blog called don't let us as likely as they would a blog called Ambassador For God. Let me know what you think about the name change by commenting below

On every post, unless I ask other wise, I encourage you to comment on what I said and state your own opinion on that subject. Feel free to reply to what other users have said. However if I find any comments that are very argumentative I will remove them.

So what do you think about my idea for this blog? What would you like me to be posting about? Leave a comment or feel free to email me at my personal email: magicbymaddux@gmail.com