What I'll tell you now is about my experiences with God. This, I love to talk about. I was "born" into the church. I was always a Christian, and I can't remember the first time I accepted God. However, I do remember how eager I was to be baptized, and how I begged the pastor to baptize me in a month where they weren't going to. I would be the only one baptized, and they didn't want to heat the water up just for me. But my pastor saw something in me and agreed to do so. From there, I grew very strong, spiritually. I began preaching in Children's Church, even though I was still in it. But then something happened. Namely, high school.
I feel ashamed to have to tell you that my downfall was a Baptist High School, but that's just what it was. In 8th grade, I was introduced to "dirty jokes". Before this time, I was hailed as class clown all through grade school, because I was a crack up. I would have the other kids in stitches, and I was a fun person to be around. I say this with no source of pride, because if I actually found pride in this, it would be shallow, to say the least. My humor is a gift from God and thus should be used for his glory, not my own. But back to the story, I began picking up these jokes quickly. And I became the King of Ennuendo. Anytime someone said something, I would find a way to turn it into a dirty joke, within seconds of their utterance. It has been a fierce battle to rid myself of this plague, and I'm still paying for it. My mind has this amazing ability to grasp the concepts of something and adapt. However, I never adapted my mind to Bible verses, for any situation. If I had, fighting temptation would've been a snap. I'm trying to develop this now, but it's tough. And of course, being such a popular guy meant that I had the opportunity with a nice amount of females. Not all of them would be considered "attractive", but the mere fact of this gave me more pride. And I've made my share of mistakes. I am still a virgin, by God's power and grace. Any time I came anywhere near, my guilt or should I say the Holy Spirit would come to my aid and pretty much force me to quit whatever I was doing.
I graduated as a confused individual. I was BJ throughout high school. BJ is my alter ego, so to speak. He represents everything that is devoid of good in my life. He's the pervert. He's the womanizer. He's the egotistical maniac. In part, he's my Id. Brandon, however represents all that is good in me. In truth, Brandon represents me anytime I listen to God and do the right thing. And at graduation, my two personalities collided. Thank God Brandon won. Or should I say, God won!
At Azusa Pacific University, I found the true me. It's a long story, so I won't go into it, but let's just say I found God on his terms, not my own. And I still fail to be the me I should be. But now, I have the ability to succeed through God, and sometimes I do.
And now, my mission's statement (I think that means the time where I tell you what I believe):
I believe that Jesus Christ is God. I believe that he came to earth as a man, but was also God. I believe he died on the cross and rose again for my sins. I believe that he poured down the Holy Spirit shortly after. I believe that the Holy Spirit is a personality that stays with us everywhere we go. I believe that it is our conscience, giving us the ability to choose right from wrong. I also believe that it speaks to and through me. I believe that there are times that I speak with God's authority and not my own. I believe that my writing belongs to God, not necessarily because he inspired it directly, but because he gives me the ideas and the ability to write it the way I do. And most importantly, I believe that LOVE is the most important thing in the Christian life. I believe that LOVE is the most important practice. LOVE is what I strive to have for everyone, Christian and non. Anything else theological, I deem unimportant at this time. I do not and will not take a stand on when the rapture occurs, whether dancing is sin, if Sunday must be holy or not (though I do try to go to church somewhat on a weekly basis), and so forth.
I'm running out of page space, so for now that's it. If you have any questions or just wanna talk to me, you know my email. It's on the page right before this one. Or you can catch me online on AIM. My screenname is CALivinGuy. You could try to catch me on Yahoo, but I doubt I'll be on very often (Because I have a webcam, and it's evil!). So thanks for reading all this. If you have a website, I'll come to yours and read all about you too! Anyways, take care, God bless, and have fun reading my works, and hopefully soon the works of others too.
Brandon Monahan