My Weakest Moment Became the Strongest Move of God - Javier Malave

In this powerful episode of Living Testimonies, Javier Malave shares his deeply personal journey of faith—beginning with a strong Pentecostal upbringing and leading through seasons of doubt, questions, and miraculous healing. At just 17, Javier surrendered his life to Jesus, but it wasn’t until a near-death encounter with Guillain-Barré Syndrome that he experienced the undeniable presence of God in the darkest valley.

With passion for thoughtful faith and authentic conversations, Javier opens up about how suffering reshaped his perspective, deepened his trust in God, and fueled a desire to encourage others. Whether you’re wrestling with your faith or seeking spiritual growth, this testimony will challenge and inspire you to see God’s hand even in the hardest places.

Ways to connect with Javier:

https://graceandgrindministries.com/

___________________________________________________________

Send a Text

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Living Testimonies! If you were inspired by today's conversation, please share this episode with a friend or family member.

Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, behind-the-scenes insights, and more inspiring content.

Join us next time for another inspiring conversation!

Your Story, His Glory!

Episode Transcript

Israel Caminero (00:04):
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's
episode.
I'm grateful for your supportand for being part of this
community.
If you've been enjoying thepodcast so far, I'd love it if
you could take a minute to leavea review.
Your feedback helps me reachmore people and share these
inspiring stories with others.
Let's spread the word.

(00:24):
Please share this podcast withyour friends and family.
And if you haven't already, besure to like and subscribe for
new episodes.
To stay connected and up todate on all the latest news,
updates, and exclusive content,head over to my Facebook page,
Living Testimonies.
While you're there, be sure tosubscribe to my newsletter.

(00:46):
The link is on the page.
Thanks again for listening, andI'll catch you in the next
episode.
Welcome to Living Testimony,Stories of Faith and Redemption.

(01:13):
I'm your host, Israel Caminero,and I hope that everyone is
listening is blessed and doingwell.
With me today, I have mybrother in Christ.
His name is Javier Malave, andhe's here to share his
testimony.

Javier Malave (01:24):
Could you say a little bit about yourself,
Javier?
Thanks for having me on.
I appreciate it.
I am uh my name is JavierMalave, as you just said.
I have been a podcaster,author, and for the last four or
five years, I have uh podcast,a few other things.
I've been married 31 years, Ihave two grown adult children,

(01:45):
and I'm a born and bred NewYorker.

Israel Caminero (01:48):
He's here to share his testimony, but before
he does that, I'd like to prayand say, Heavenly Father, I
thank you for Javier and thework you've done in his life.
As he prepares to speak, I askthat you calm his spirit and
fill him with your peace.
Let every word he shares be ledby your spirit, full of truth,
grace, and power.
Anoint his voice, guard hisheart, and guide his thoughts.

(02:10):
Let him feel the weight of yourpresence and the freedom that
comes with obedience to yourcall.
May his testimony plant seeds,break chains, and draw hearts
closer to you.
Use him for your glory, Lord,and may every listener encounter
your love through his story.
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Javier Malave (02:26):
Amen.

Israel Caminero (02:28):
I'm eager to listen to your testimony.
I heard a little bit about whatyou shared with me, but I want
to hear everything.
So can you take us to back inthe day and let us know how your
life was growing up?

Javier Malave (02:41):
Oh, sure.
Like I said, I'm born and brandNew York.
I was raised in Williamsburg,New York.
Uh, not the Williamsburg thateverybody thinks of now.
We're talking about the hoodback in the day, or what we used
to call Los Sudes, becausethat's where most Puerto Ricans
uh at the time in the 70s andthe 60s lived.
They either lived there or inthe Bronx or in Chicago.
Uh we grew up in Brooklyn,which is uh south side of

(03:03):
Brooklyn.
Uh lived there till I was uh14, then we moved to downtown
Brooklyn to keep thinking mymom, mom and dad are Puerto
Rican, they're from the island.
Uh we're first generation here.
My mother was a Santera for awhile, uh, since I can remember.
As I would say it in Spanish,but it's like Santeria, it's
almost services for people thatare in that religion.

(03:26):
Uh we were Catholic as well, soand if anyone knows anything
about santeria, it is a mixtureof African voodoo, Catholicism,
and Christianity in general.
Um my mom uh was very involvedin that, so I am very um
knowledgeable or have beenaround that situation.
So we were around all that, andmy mom had the altars in the

(03:49):
house with all the uh ornamentsand whatever.
You know, we knew all about theorishas and all that stuff.
So we moved to downtownBrooklyn to what we call the
projects here in New York.
We were the first Hispanicfamily to live in that building,
and it was pretty rough.
I fought pretty much every daybecause unfortunately, being

(04:10):
Puerto Rican and a neighborhoodof African Americans, you kind
of stand out.
Uh so it was uh rough fouryears of my life there until we
were uh 17 and we moved out andwe moved to uh what we call
Bushwick, Brooklyn, and that'swhere everything changed.
Uh we literally moved rightnext to a Pentecostal church.

(04:32):
My mom worked at a daycarecenter.
She was the cook there for 40years at a daycare center, and
the owner of the daycare centerhad a house that he was renting,
and obviously my parents werealways once to move up and
always wanted to be in a betterplace.
So they moved us to Bushwick,Brooklyn, which at the at that

(04:53):
time wasn't the greatest, but itdefinitely was much better than
when we were in the downtownBrooklyn.
Uh we lived in uh Bushwick,Brooklyn, which is now very um,
how do you call it, uh, bougienow.
Uh not like it was when I grewup there.
Uh while we were moving, andthis is something I I haven't
told anyone, I don't think, orI've talked in interviews.
When we were moving, my mom andus, we had to pack up the the

(05:15):
whole altar, which is all thegiant figures, the uh, you know,
the angel, the Saint Lazarus,all that stuff that's on there.
And uh we packed it up and weput it in the truck.
And this is one thing I have toknow that God already had all
this in plan.
Every piece of statue nevermade it to the little house.

Israel Caminero (05:34):
Oh wow.

Javier Malave (05:35):
Never made it.
They all broke.
All of them.
All of them.
Every single one was broken.
Never made it to the house.
So uh I could already lookingback now, I can say, yeah, that
was God already starting to uhwanting to change my family.
You know, we and and we movedright next to a Pentecostal
church, right?
So God can't direct you evenbetter.

(05:55):
Like he'll put you right nextto a church, right?

Israel Caminero (05:57):
Right.

Javier Malave (05:58):
So my mom knew a lot of the people at the church
because obviously the daycarecenter was owned by uh the
people that ran the church atthat time.
So she would know them, and wewould go on trips with the
church, you know, the normaleverybody goes to Pennsylvania,
church trips, camping trips, allthat stuff that kids would do.
The first one to get saved,which is funny, was my sister.

(06:19):
Uh, when she uh started goingto church and then started going
to Sunday school, and my momwould take her, obviously, and
God, in his mercy and grace,saved my mom for a lady who was
into uh spiritualism, santeria,and all that, for God to change
her life.
Her own testimony is our owntestimony.
I can tell you that God doesamazing things.

(06:40):
My mom is still here.
Thank God.
My mom has been through a lotuh physically.
We are blessed to have herstill here, my dad as well.
But just to continue, um, so mymom and my sister were going to
church.
I was not.
There was no way.
I was on the street, I washanging out.
Uh, you know, I was a highschool, you know, well, never

(07:02):
really went to high school.
I was one of those that, youknow, just went to homeroom and
cut out the rest of the day.

Israel Caminero (07:07):
Right.

Javier Malave (07:08):
Um, you know, I can remember my mom going to
talk to the teachers and theywould ask, she would say, I'm
here to speak about hobby.
And they go, Who?
You know, because they neversaw me, you know.
They I was never there.
As long as I made to homeroom,I technically was in school.
I always was the one thatwanted to always work.
I always wanted to have moneyin my pocket.
So whatever I I would cut outof school and go to work or do

(07:30):
whatever I needed to do in orderto make some money.

Israel Caminero (07:32):
Gotcha.

Javier Malave (07:32):
So I got involved in a lot of things that were
not good.
Part of a crew back then andand and the gang life and all
that, you know, which was prettyuh crazy.
I I went to a high school thatwas one of the first high
schools in New York to have ametal detector in the school.
So that's how bad my schoolwas.
We had a baseball team thatwere not allowed to have a
baseball field because theyweren't allowed to have the

(07:54):
bats.
They had canceled graduation, Ithink three years in a row
because the proms, I thinkpeople were either beat up or
stabbed during those.
You're talking, these are the80s when everybody was uh, you
know, either coked out ordrugged out, or you know, nobody
really cared.
New York City was a hot mess inthe 70s and 80s, and even the

(08:17):
90s when the crack era came, thelate 80s.
So uh my mom and my sister, youknow, they were saved, they
were going to church.
And then one day um my momsays, Listen, that we're gonna
have the youth here at thehouse, and they're gonna have a
uh, you know, a youth meeting.
And she goes, Would you liketo?
And I'm like, Come on, mom, Ireally don't want to, I don't

(08:37):
know any of these people, youknow, I don't need to hear about
this.
I know you you love God,whatever, and I appreciate that.
But but you know, my sister,which I would do anything for my
sister, said, you know, whydon't you just stay half hour?
That's all.
If you don't like that, you canleave, you know.

Israel Caminero (08:52):
Right.

Javier Malave (08:53):
And we were raised that if people come to
your house, you show themrespect, you know, you tell
them, you you invite them andyou make them comfortable.
So these are all teenagers, youknow, 17, 16, 15-year-old kids
coming to somebody's house.
So I stayed there, and um, thiswas a very Pentecostal church.
So they were having theirservice, and I sat there and
started listening.
The youth leader at the time,his name is John Rivera, he's

(09:15):
now a pastor.
He was just speaking, you know,normal.
Like I always thought preachersor people in church would be
like one of those vows days, youknow, everything is big and
extravagant.
But he was very down to earth,talked like anybody, you know,
and it kind of hit me.
And I said, you know what?
I've been through a lot.

(09:37):
Streets aren't really doing itfor me.
Why not?
What's it gonna hurt for me totry, right?

Israel Caminero (09:43):
Right.

Javier Malave (09:43):
I told him I wanted to talk to him, and we
went into my bathroom.
And I gave my life to Christ at17 in the bathroom.
In uh obviously at the time Ihad no idea what I was doing.
I just knew that it wassomething I needed, that was
something that I that was in myheart at the time that I felt
comfortable doing.
I had no idea what it is to besaved, grace, Christianity, none

(10:04):
of that.
I only knew what Catholicism orSaturday and all that.
So we started going to thechurch, the Pentecostal church,
and obviously it's very strict.
You know, you can't do anythingoutside, you know, everything
you you'll either burn in hellor whatever.
We we couldn't really breathe.

Israel Caminero (10:21):
Right.

Javier Malave (10:21):
Um, but one thing I have to say, I made some of
the best friends I've ever, andstill friends of mine now, 50
years later, that I still love,you know, a lot, and and we we
communicate here and there.
But I gave I got involved inchurch, went, you know, and if
you anybody knows about uhSpanish Pentecostal church, you
go to church Sunday, Monday,Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays.

(10:44):
You were there pretty much allday, all week.
You know, you really didn't doanything but church.
I was there till I was 21.
I uh became involved with thechurch, and I became uh very
good friends with one of theguys there, and he worked at a
bookstore called MaranathaChristian Bookstore.

(11:05):
And they needed a securityguard.
Why not?
I mean, I'm one right to makemoney, why not?
Let's let's do it.
It's it's a bookstore.
What much can happen?
So I started working there, andto cut a long story short, I
started ending up working at thestore as a salesperson.
I started reading the books, Istarted selling the music.
That's when I got into umcontemporary Christian music.

(11:29):
I was I'm a big uh hardcoremetal fan, so when hard rock,
Christian hard rock was comingout, or like Stryper or you
know, Baron Cross or things likethat, I was a huge fan.
Huge.
And that obviously goes againstPentecostal or upbringing,
obviously, because that musicis, as they say, of the world.
But I still loved it.

(11:49):
It still gave me joy.
And I ended up working at abookstore called Christian
Publications, which is thebiggest, was at the time the
biggest bookstore in New York.
That's where every all theChristians, anybody, pastors,
whatever, came to get all theirmaterials, their music and
everything.
I ended up working at the musicstore.
You know, I I uh experienced alot there to learn about uh

(12:12):
different types of ideas andthoughts, people's religious
thoughts, their philosophy.
You know, because as aChristian, people think
Christianity is just one, it'sunder one bubble, but everybody
has such different ideas of itor or thoughts on it, which to
me I love I love talking topeople and just listening to
what they have to say.

(12:32):
I may not agree with them, butI just love to hear other
people's thoughts and just forme to learn myself on how people
because that's how you learnhow to talk to other people when
you listen to people.
I think that's one of thethings that's been lost in this
country is civil discourse andand critical thinking.
That's been lost.
I don't know if we're evergetting that back again, but

(12:53):
it's been lost.
But anyway, so I was working atChristian publications for a
while.
That's where I met my beautifulwife, Daisy.
I weighed about almost 300 andsomething pounds.
I was a very big guy.
This young lady comes in tolook for a and she's all hair
all spiked up, you know, hair.
This is the you're talking the80s, right?

Israel Caminero (13:14):
Right.

Javier Malave (13:14):
So the big hair and the eyeliners, but you know,
she had the Jesus, but she wasshe was a Christian.
I mean, you know, to me, andshe came in to look for a band
called Blood Good.
And uh obviously I know whothat band is, but for someone
else to ask for it, that's notnormal, that was like a big
like, whoa, what do you mean youlike you like this music?

(13:35):
Wow, cool.
We started talking, and I askedher out, and she immediately
said no.
So obviously that was a toe tomy ego.
She tells me now that it'sbecause she was with someone, so
she's not one to, which Irespected.
You know, uh, you're withsomeone, you're not gonna go out
with someone else out ofrespect.
So, cut a long story short, uh,we separated for a while.

(13:57):
Uh, I didn't hear from her atall.
Uh, I got involved with acouple of other people, had
relationships, engagements, verybad times.
Had a couple of uh scaryincidents with children almost,
which I regret.
And one of those things that Ipray to God every day for his
grace.
I thank him for his grace everyday because of that.

(14:21):
I just left church.
I just totally was I was done.
I was done with church, I wasdone with the whole religious
thing.
In a way, I was looking at itas uh it was just something to
get me off of what I was doing,or I didn't really understand
what grace or relationship withChrist was at that time.
I never understood that.

(14:42):
I didn't know.
I just know I read the Bible,we went through everything in
church.
You know, it was almost like itwas liturgical.
It was just you did it as uminstinct, you know what I mean?
But it didn't, it I wasn'tchanged as you should be.

Israel Caminero (14:56):
More like a routine, right?

Javier Malave (14:58):
Yeah, it was a routine, it was something that
was comfortable to do.
You didn't really think throughit, you just went and did it.
I left church, Pentecostalchurch, period, uh, for a while.
I met this young lady at thebookstore, and she was going to
a church in New Jersey to tellyou a little bit about me.
I've never traveled anywhere.

(15:18):
The only place I ever traveledwas Puerto Rico because my mom
would send me two months out ofthe year to get me out of New
York from the streets to livewith my grandma over there, just
you know, mostly for thesummers.
So she invited me to her churchin New Jersey.
I I actually was dating her, soI said, why not?
You know, I mean, she's mygirlfriend at the time, why

(15:40):
would I visit her church?

Israel Caminero (15:41):
Right.

Javier Malave (15:42):
So I went there with the idea of like, I'm just
gonna go visit, just say hello,whatever, and just to appease
her.
And we went during theChristmas season.
She ended up being in part ofthe play for the Christmas for
the church.
So I had to go in forrehearsals with her, and so I
got to meet the people there.
And God blessed me withmeeting, I say, my brother from

(16:04):
another mother, my best friendfor life.
His name is Hoel.
I met him there.
He was the uh audio engineerfor the church.
He did all the music, he didall that.
I love music, and we kicked itoff.
We became the best of friends,and I ended up uh going to the
church.

Israel Caminero (16:22):
This wasn't a Pentecostal church, obviously.

Javier Malave (16:24):
No, no, this was a reformed, what they call
reformed church.

Israel Caminero (16:28):
Okay.

Javier Malave (16:28):
Uh it's under it's mostly Lutheran ideas.
They're sort of liturgical in away, but they're very mellow.
I ended up enjoying the churchand being part of the church,
and then ended up being um partof the praise and worship team,
which I would never in my lifethought I would be.
I ended up being a drummer forthe church.
We were the first praise andworship team for a reformed

(16:50):
church.
They never were once to be, youknow, they did all the hymns,
all the good old hymns, nothingwith drums or guitars or people
singing.
And we decided, why not?
Let's do it, let's see ifpeople and it hit off.
And um, we went around a lot ofreformed churches to play, and
and it was a lot of fun.

(17:11):
Daisy at the time, my wife, shefollowed up with me.
For some reason, we touchedbase again.
She invited me to go to astriper concert.
From there, got to control, andum so far it's 31 years.
And two children later, me andmy wife ended up getting
married, me and Daisy, and wemoved to New Jersey.

(17:32):
Then my parents bought a housein New York, and they were
having problems with the tenantsupstairs, and they asked us,
would we like to move back toNew York?
And I'm thinking, why not?
You know, I have two smallchildren, they can be by their
grandmother and grandfather,there are, you know, it's all
about family, right?
So we want them all to betogether.
So I said, why not?
I still went to Woodcliffe onSundays to play, traveled from

(17:57):
New York to New Jersey without acar.
This was in publictransportation back then, so it
was two trains and a bus.
Eventually it was just toomuch, and there were a lot of
things going on in the churchthat uh I just didn't agree
with.
Politics, as they say, churchpolitics.
I wasn't interested in that atall.
And I left.
I didn't stop believing, but Idid stop attending any church or

(18:20):
attending anything when itcomes to God.
I had faith, but I had no, Iwasn't, I wasn't with any with
any church.
I had no accountability at all.
My wife still to this dayalways went to church, always uh
was is the prayer warrior ofthis house.
She is the one that held uswhen everything was going crazy.
She's the prayer warrior, shestill is.

(18:41):
To bring it up to now, I am asurvivor of what's called
Guillon Baret syndrome, which isa neurological disease that
affects the myelin sheath ofyour nerve ending.
So the re the way I explain itis, or the way I was told, it's
like you know, an electricalwire, right?
You know, the black partoutside the wire.

(19:03):
It protects all those littleinside wires, the reds, the
yellows, the greens.
So my disease eats the outsideof that wire.
So the insides are exposed, andthen they get eaten.
So I have no feeling.
So it's neuropathic, whichmeans it's um I get a
neuropathy.
I have no sensation from thetip of my toes to a little past

(19:24):
my elbows.
I always feel like uh I alwaystell people it's like if you're
you know when your hands asleepor your legs asleep, yeah.
Imagine feeling that all day,every day.
That's what I feel all day,every day.
To start from there, thisdisease came out of nowhere.
I was I had gained a lot ofweight, I was very overweight,
and um I decided to become avegan.

(19:48):
Um and I said, you know, let metry this.
And I became a vegan for almostsix years and I lost a lot of
weight and I started running fora guy who wouldn't walk to the
corner store.
I started running and uh I dida few 5Ks and stuff like that
and 3K and I was training forthe first my first half

(20:09):
marathon, which was the Brooklynhalf.
Um I was training for that.
So this was gonna be my firstreal event, you know what I
mean?
The first half marathon.

Israel Caminero (20:17):
Right.

Javier Malave (20:18):
I got sick.
Uh I just got you know how youfeel like a flu.
You feel like you know you'recoughing and everything else.
I'm thinking it's just I'vejust got the flu, I'm just sick.
I had a fever and everything,but it was, you know, whatever.
Normal, as you know, you getsick, you take Tylenol, you you
fight it off, and whatever.

(20:39):
Unfortunately, my sickness, Iended up having 104 fever
septic, and was rushed to thehospital with 3% lung capacity.
I couldn't breathe.
Oh wow.
Um, when I was brought to thehospital, first thing they did
was intubate me.
They intubated me.
So I was intubated for sixdays.
Uh the doctor had told my wifeto make plans.

(21:00):
He doesn't think I'm going towake up.
Most people do not wake up fromintubation or they rely on the
machine after two or three days.
Their body starts to justadjust and need the machine in
order to live.
And mine, I was so sick andthey were pumping me with so
much stuff.
That day I told my wife, wedon't, we don't know.
We can't tell you.
We just we just tell you, youknow.
And um, God had other plans.

(21:23):
I woke up on the sixth day, Iwoke up on October 2nd of 21.
Yeah, I woke up in thehospital.
I was in the hospital for aboutthree or four months.
I'm unable to walk.
Uh, I'm able to now move aroundmuch better than I did when I
first got sick, but I amwheelchair bound.
I do wear braces.
And to this day, they don'texactly know what caused the

(21:46):
sickness.
Because what happened was whenI got there, they checked uh GPS
wasn't uh diagnosed yet.
What they were thinking wasthis either was fungal, some
sort of bug, or anything, andthey couldn't find it.
They couldn't, they couldn't,they couldn't explain why I was
so sick.
So after I woke up, you know,when you wake up, you sometimes

(22:07):
your legs are asleep, and you'relike, I just gotta move my legs
a little bit, and they'llwon't, you know, they'll warm up
and I can start.
Well, I couldn't move my legs.
They just felt sleepy, and I'mlike, but wait.
And I'm thinking to myself, eh,it's probably because I was in
bed for so long, you know?

Israel Caminero (22:21):
Right.

Javier Malave (22:22):
Um, so the doctors did uh two spinal taps,
which if anybody knows what aspinal tap is, it's not the most
comfortable thing in the world.
And within that spinal tap,they found that they found the
disease, the Guillon Bardisease, uh, which is very rare.
Um, you know, I don't win thelottery, but I win the lottery
in diseases, as I say.
Yeah, very rare disease.

(22:42):
So I had to learn how to movearound again.
I had to learn how to eat, Ihad to learn how to walk, uh, at
least move around.
I have no uh inflections on mybottom of my legs or my ankles,
so I can't really move up anddown.
Uh because there just there'sno my brain doesn't hit the
nerve endings for it to connect.

(23:04):
So it's like electricity's notgetting there to signal.
And this is where life getsreally interesting because I
woke up uh very sick, obviously.
I had to learn all this stuffagain.
I went to the hospital, got outthe hospital, came home after
three or four months.
At the time, I didn't realizehow angry I was at God, how uh
upset I was or hurt because I'msaying, you know, all this stuff

(23:28):
that's happening, why, youknow, the the normal blaming
everyone uh for what for uh inthemselves or getting angry at
God.
I mean, obviously, our Goddoesn't want anything bad for us
to happen to us.
Whatever happens, it's it's alearning experience, right?
But I didn't know that at thattime.

Israel Caminero (23:49):
That's right.

Javier Malave (23:49):
I was so to get to where we are today, I decided
to deconstruct my faith, asthey say.
So I created a podcast, andthis is where I stepped in first
on my podcast, was called theintellectual Sasquatch at the
time.
Intellectuals because I love toread, I love to learn stuff.
And Sasquatch came from mydaughter, who I would do things

(24:12):
just rough.
So, Dad, you're acting like aSasquatch.
You're running around, you'redoing this, you know.
Back then, I got that, and I itwas more of a philosophy,
self-help, positive, one ofthose famous, you know, you're
great, God loves you no matterwhat, you know.
Do you and don't worry aboutanything else, and follow these
ideas or this philosophy.

(24:32):
But everything was aboutnothing with God.
You know what I mean?
It was nothing to do with whoChrist was, it was pretty much
on how we can do everything onourselves.
Oh how to think.
So I I was a bit I was uh stillI'm interested in stoicism.
And if you know what stoicismis, it's about logic and it's
about your emotions.

(24:53):
Um, you know, that you reallycan't be angry at what you can't
control.
You know, prepare for theworst, even though you think
it's gonna just prepare for theworst, death is inevitable.
Uh so you have to live everyday of your life without
freaking out for things youcan't control.
So I took that to heart verywell.
Um, not realizing that it wasreally just suppressing pain and

(25:18):
hurt and things that God wantedto for me to let go.
So I created the broadcast, andof course, God has a funny
sense of humor.
He goes, Okay, go right ahead,keep doing what you're doing.
And you know, and if you wantto deconstruct something, you
have to investigate it, right?
You have to find the pros andthe cons of it.
So you wanna you wanna find thenegative in what you're talking

(25:42):
about.
Because obviously you don'twanna, you know, you don't want
to agree with something you'reyou're trying to disprove.
But reading the Bible more andstudying more, I started to
realize that instead ofdeconstructing my faith, God was
constructing my faith.

Israel Caminero (25:55):
Amen.

Javier Malave (25:57):
He was giving me, you know, when every time I
asked a question, I said, yeah,this is and I would have to read
it because I would, I would, Iwould always like to prove,
disprove the word of God withlogic, right?
Not knowing that the guy thatwrote it is the most logical
being on earth, in the world, inever.
You know, it's God.

(26:17):
No one could be more logicalthan God.

Israel Caminero (26:19):
That's right.

Javier Malave (26:20):
So um I started reading the Bible and reading
into things and and trying todisprove the the Trinity, or or
I wasn't wanting to reallydisprove, I was just more into
the emotional part of the wholeuh we have to be so beholden, we
have to be so worried, we haveto be and I was just like so
frustrated with that.

(26:41):
So that was the whole thing,you know.
And I started to do podcasts totalk about more positive
thoughts and more about mentalhealth and and all about what we
can do for ourselves, right?
Not what God can do for us, orChrist.
I give props to my and and youwould think from a person who's
not a Christian, and uh from myprimary care doctor.

(27:04):
My primary care doctor, I goneto go see her for a follow-up
from you know, from recovery,and she goes, What's wrong with
you?
And I said, Nothing.
Physically, I know what'swrong, but she goes, Are you
because you know you're you'reallowed to be angry at what's
going on with you, right?
Now, you would think thatsomething so innocuous, like

(27:24):
angry, you would not, you'd belike, Yeah, okay.
But for some reason it hit mereally hard.
Like I was never angry or neverallowed myself to feel hurt
from everything that's happened.
I was mostly trying to justsuppress it or ignore it, or by
disproving it, I don't have toface it.

Israel Caminero (27:46):
Right.

Javier Malave (27:47):
And by her telling me that, I said, you
know what?
You know, you're right.
And uh I came home that day.
I was in a very bad place.
I did try to take my life nottoo long after I uh was back
from the hospital.
Uh I was admitted for aboutthree days, you know, the normal

(28:08):
three days for observation.
And I got out of there.
You know, you're uh by law, youhave to be uh put with a social
worker and a therapist.
And I'm as a man Puerto Rican,Hispanic, you know, we don't
talk to nobody.
I ain't gonna talk to nobodyabout my emotions.
There's no way.

(28:28):
I don't talk to God.
Do you think I'm gonna talk tosomebody?
No, it's not gonna happen.
By by law, I had to go seethem.
Uh it was part of the beingreleased.
And to this day, I thank Godfor the therapist that I do
have, Julie.
Um, she's been my therapist nowfor over four years.
By talking to her, I started torealize that I can talk to God

(28:51):
the same way and be open withhim that way.
And I just said, you know what,God, I don't know what's going
on.
I'm and and I tell people, Italk to God like I'm talking to
you right now.
I tell God, listen, I'm angry,man.
I don't understand, I don'tknow why.
Uh obviously, God can answer mein ways that he wants to, but I

(29:13):
have that relationship with mysavior that I'm comfortable in
talking to him in a way that Iwould talk to anybody else.
Obviously, there's reverence,there's respect, there's no, you
know, we're not in the hood, wedon't talk that way.
But there there is thatfather-son talk that I do have
with him.
I just decided, you know what,God, I'm just gonna give it to

(29:34):
you.
Listen, man.
I'm angry.
I don't know if this is evergonna go away, whatever.
And uh, I just rededicatedeverything back to God.
I said, you know what?
I'm not gonna try and disproveyou now.
Now you're gonna have to proveyourself to me.
And you know the Bible saysdon't prove don't test your God
or whatever.
But I wasn't testing him toprove, I was testing him to

(29:55):
prove himself to me, to showhimself to me.
Not to prove, because I knowthere's a God in it, but to show
himself to me, if youunderstand what I'm saying.
Yeah, I needed to know who hewas.
And if all these years of mylife that I dedicated to him, or
I've tried to anyway, because Ihave failed more than I have
conquered, I needed to know him.

(30:16):
I needed to know him again,brand new again.
And um, I started the podcastUm The Crossroads of Thought,
and it was a mix of just metalking about God, things on uh
life things, situations,thoughts.
I started going back to church,to my wife's church, Calvary

(30:40):
Baptist Church, which I lovehighly now.
God brought me into the spacethat we are now, which is
podcasting and writing, and it'sbeen a heck of an adventure.

Israel Caminero (30:52):
Amen.

Javier Malave (30:53):
As you know, doing a podcast is not sometimes
it is fun in a way, but it alsoit also is taxing and a work
and a job.
If you're not if if it is notwhat God wants you, or if you
know, I I believe that if Goddoesn't is not in the plans for
you, then it's not gonna be,you're not gonna enjoy it.
It's almost gonna be like ahard job, right?

(31:14):
But when you know that God hasput this in your heart and and
you feel that it almost it'sfun.
It's it's wrong, it's longbecause as you know, you have to
create, you know, I I write myscripts, I write everything, and
and I and I imagine everything.
So it's a lot of work.
But it was almost every time Idid that, I just got closer to

(31:34):
God and closer to understandingwho He was and understanding His
Word, um, and started tocritically think on His Word.
And uh started to look at theverses and started to try to
understand them in a way that islogical, not just because it's
there.
You know, I don't want tobelieve something just for the

(31:56):
sake of believing it, I want toreally understand it.
And that's where the crossroadsof thought became.
Was did that for about a year,and I decided to write a
devotional.
So my first devotional was onthe Book of Psalms.
I did it out of nowhere, had noclue.
Thank God for editing andcertain software that you can

(32:19):
use to make sure everything isuh sounds at least cohesive and
and and you know, spellings andstuff.
I decided to just keep doing,you know, doing that, and I've
done a few devotionals for men,women, for children.
They're all part of myministry, which is now the
Crossroads CollectiveMinistries.
So I was doing that podcast fora while, and then to give you a

(32:42):
little backstory, I'm a hugenerd.
I love pop culture, I lovefandom, I love comic books, I
love anime, I enjoy it, I enjoyanimation, I enjoy cartoons,
movies, books.
I I just enjoy that whole theart of it, the imagination of
it.
I always tell people thebiggest artist and uh person

(33:03):
with imagination is our God.
I mean, look at this world.
How could you not think hedoesn't have an imagination with
the world that he created?
The things that he created,even us.
Look at us, the intricacy thatwe are as human beings.
How could he not be an artist?
How could he not?
How could he not direct whereour heart how our heart beats,
how where our blood flows?

(33:24):
And it all runs in order.
You know, so so I look at it aswith people, when I say a comic
book, I read it.
Obviously, I I try to read itwhere it's not something that's
gonna make me think wrong orwhatever, but I look at the art,
the storyline, the imagination.
I mean, it's just amazing.
The artistry.

(33:44):
And so I love all that.
And I started a podcast calledthe Faithful Geek Podcast, which
I tried to combine my love offandom and my love of faith, of
Christianity and of Jesus andsalvation and grace.
So I had two podcasts going.
I had the Crossroads of Thoughtand uh Faithful Geek.

(34:05):
And as you know, having one ishard enough.
I had two that I was trying towork out, and it just got too
much.
And I started realizing thatboth sort of meshed into each
other.
I decided, all right, let mejust put them all together, and
I created uh the CompassChronicles, Faith, Fandom, and
Life.
So it's a mix of theology, uhcritical thinking, fandom, uh

(34:31):
life.
So I try to put all thattogether and show uh how
everything can lead to who Godis, who our savior is on grace,
on salvation.
And uh so far it's been uh it'sbeen fun, it's been
interesting, uh, it's beenrough.
Uh there are days where I don'twant to do this.

(34:53):
Uh, but you know, you alwaysthink about if that one person
needs to hear that, you know, aswe say, we put that seed, God
waters it.

Israel Caminero (35:02):
That's right.

Javier Malave (35:03):
So we never know that.
Just to give an example, mydaughter is not is not safe.
She's an audio engineer, so youknow, she studied for that.
And and so I would send her thepodcast to edit, you know, to
ask her, you know, how does thissound?
Or she would tell me, Oh, dad,your music's too loud or you're
sounding too slow or whatever.
Eventually she started askingme, Dad, when are you gonna
release a new one?

(35:23):
When you're gonna release a newone.
She started enjoying them.
And I said to my wife and Isaid to myself, and God, God, if
it only means what she gets toknow who you are, then my job is
done.
It's I'm okay.
I'm good.
As long as my children, I'mgood.
I'm good as long as they get toknow you, that's it.

(35:44):
So she listens to the podcast,and due to that, she now is part
of a Christian prayer groupthat's part of the audio
engineering school.
So things like that make mewant to say, you know, why
should I stop?
Because there could be that oneperson that can listen to maybe
two minutes of it, or the endof it, or whatever, and decide,
you know what, let me look intoit.

(36:05):
I just want people, my wholegoal is to make people think and
make people wonder, say, hmm,this guy this guy's saying
sounds interesting.
Let me look into it.
Let me see what he's saying andlet me prove to it.
Let me look at it, let me readit.
And if we can open their eyesand open their heart to who God
is, who to our Savior is, thenI'm good.

(36:26):
You know what I mean?
Then God will take care of therest.

Israel Caminero (36:28):
That's right.

Javier Malave (36:29):
And I get blessed every time that I write a
script and I learn more.
And I and this itself, I neverthought I'd be talking to people
about my life, about things Ido.
Never.
And uh I've met a lot of peoplein the podcast world, a lot of
Christians that I have become somuch friends, so much uh
strength from everyone that's inthis community.

(36:51):
So so far, it's uh you know,we're up to our almost 70th
episode.
We're only about 14 downloadsshy of a thousand downloads,
which I never thought in my lifeI would ever get.
I remember the first time wegot like two downloads, I was
the most excited man in theworld.
Uh you know, uh that's twopeople who listen to it.

Israel Caminero (37:11):
Right.

Javier Malave (37:11):
Two people who you know that God is real, and
and no matter what the situationis, God will always be there.
Uh, we may not understand him,we may not comprehend it, but
our mind, our thoughts are nothis thoughts.

Israel Caminero (37:24):
That's right.

Javier Malave (37:25):
Our mind is not his mind.
And every and like he says,everything he does, he does for
the good of us.
Despite whatever happens, atthe end of that, there is some
sort of good that comes out ofit.
So my sickness, my disease gotme to where I'm at now, where I
am strong in my faith.
I love my God with all myheart.

(37:45):
I thank him every day that Iget up and breathe.
I thank him for my family, forthe people that I've met, that I
would never have met unless Iwas committed to him.
You know, he put these peoplein my life, and he's given me
the energy and the will tocontinue to do this.

(38:05):
I tend to jump into a lot ofdifferent things when it comes
to uh what I do.
I'm always involved insomething.
So I decided to open up a merchstore online.
It's called Faithful ThreadsNYC.
Uh, it's all based on fandom,but everything is Christ-based
or Christian-based.
So the designs are anime, butthey have uh Bible verses or

(38:30):
some sort of uh biblical thoughtbehind them.
So it I did that to attract thepeople that would most likely
never go into a church.

Israel Caminero (38:37):
Yeah.

Javier Malave (38:37):
Like nerds.
Like we would never go into achurch unless we're visual
people, right?
We're visual, we need to touch.
We need so for someone to gointo a church, they need to be
that that type needs to bemotivated.
So that's what I try to do.
Be interested in saying, youknow, oh man, he talked about uh
this anime and he he saw theChristian part of it.
How did he get to that?

(38:58):
How did he see that?
And if it makes them just lookinto a Bible verse a little
more, then hey, God will do therest, right?
That's right.
That's right.
Just get them to open the wordor get them to go online and
Google something.
Or even if they want todisprove what I'm saying, it
still becomes a conversation.
It still becomes an opportunitythat God puts in your in front

(39:21):
of you.
Now, what you do with theopportunity, that's up to how
you are with God, right?
If you know that you're you'restrong in your faith, yet, I
mean, we're not here to winarguments.
We're not here to disproveanyone, we're not here to bash
anyone, we're here to show themlove and show them
understanding.
But you all don't want to youalso want to show them that
you're knowledgeable and strongin your faith.

(39:43):
And you're just not one tobelieve for the sake of
believing.

Israel Caminero (39:46):
That's right.

Javier Malave (39:46):
We we know we have a foundation, and we want
to show them that thatfoundation can't be deterred, it
can't be taken down.
And uh, but you show that withlove and understanding, not
capitulating or not.
Changing your thoughts to makethem comfortable.
No, it's having a discussionthat may be uncomfortable, but

(40:07):
in a way that they'll understandthat you're not telling them to
hurt them.
You're telling them because youlove them and you want them to
feel and understand what youhave in your heart, this joy,
this, you know, and and to letthem know that, in all honest
truth, being a Christian, no onesays you're gonna have the best
life.
The Bible says it.

(40:28):
My cross is heavy, but it won'tkill you.
My burden is heavy.
We're not gonna be loved byeveryone or anyone from this
world.
We're not, it's just simple asthat.
But that love that Christ hasfor us, that grace, that's
suffice for every foreverything.
There is nothing else.

(40:48):
You don't need anything else.
I don't need the world'sapproval.
I don't need someone's approvalto understand how God loves me
and cares for me and how heloves everybody, everyone in
this world, and how he died forour.
I mean, think about it.
I always tell people, thinkabout when do you ever think
that you deserve someone to diefor you?

(41:08):
I I never thought any, I neverthink anyone should ever die for
me.
Ever.
My wife, my children, no.
Why?
I don't deserve it.
But the God of God's, the Lordof Lords, sent his son to die
for me, me, me, just me.
He directly just looked at me.
No one else in this world, andhe took that pain from me.

(41:32):
How could I not honor that?
It's like if anyone, a friendof mine, will take a gunshot
from me, how could I not honorhim?
Right, God humbled himself,became human, suffered for
something that he never did formy sin, and how am I not gonna

(41:52):
honor that and respect that andlove that?
I just don't understand it.
I don't get it because I lookat it logically.
I just I don't look at itemotionally.
Sure, emotions have a lot to dowith it, but I look at it
logically.
If someone does something forme, I'm going to care for them
because I respect that they didsomething for me and I want to

(42:14):
do something for them.
So, God, the Lord of Lords,died for me, and all he wants
for us is to love him and tojust honor him.
And he knows that we're gonnafail, he knows we're gonna mess
up, he's not asking forperfection, he just wants us to
be open and understand him andjust get to know him.

(42:35):
That's all he wants.
Just get a relationship withhim.
He's not asking you to be thenext Jimmy Swaggard or the next
you know biggest preacher, or hejust wants you to be with him,
he just wants you to know him,and wherever he takes you, he's
gonna take you.
And if he if you now become thethe biggest of anything, but

(42:57):
know that you are in his hands,and at the end of all this, at
the end of this race, you'regonna be like, it was all worth
it, man.
That's right.
It's it's you know, it you youwant to hear that, well done, my
faithful servant.
I don't want to be the one Inever knew you.
You know, I think that shouldput a lot of thought in people's
heads, those words away fromme.

(43:20):
I never knew you.
I think about that now, my hairstands up because I think about
think are you willing to takethat chance?
Are you I mean, are you willingto gamble when it's there given
to you?
Like he picked, you know, Ilook at it as the lottery,

(43:42):
right?
But you have the numbers to winthe lottery, but then you
decide not to play the numbers,and then the numbers come up,
but you have the number, butthen you get mad because you
didn't win.
Think about it.
God gave you the way to him,simple.
Accept me as your Lord andSavior, understand that I love

(44:04):
you, I care for you.
I'm not asking you to be atheologian, I'm not asking you
to be a pastor, a preacher.
I'm just asking you to love meand understand me and take me in
and take all of me.
He doesn't want you to takepart of him, he wants you to
take all of him.
He loved and I just jumpedover, but like they say, he's
the church is his wife, right?

(44:26):
He's the we're the bridegroom.
He wants to love us like welove our wives.
Or we love he wants that love,that agape love.
How could I not?
The man took me out of death'sdoor because I was dead, death's
door, saved my marriage, savedall this.
How can I not honor him insimple things?

(44:47):
In simple, because it's notthat difficult if you look at
it.
You just you you look at God,you you you read the word, even
if it's five minutes, man.
Open up your Bible, read thefirst verse that opens up.
But that's the first thing inyour head, right?
The word of God.
And then just say, God, listen,today I'm gonna leave it in
your hands.

(45:08):
Whatever may happen, the minuteI walk out that door, I want
you to give me peace, give meunderstanding.
And if I get angry, let meunderstand why I'm angry, how to
control my anger, how to dealwith whatever is happening.
And I think by justunderstanding that God is in
control of that, things willstart to get better.
And that's when I realized thatStoicism and my my fellow and

(45:32):
my Christianity, in a way, theydid combine, but in a way they
were totally opposite.
Because Stoicism relies on ourown selves, our own thoughts,
our own control of our thoughts.
And we know that we can'tcontrol our thoughts.
It's just very difficult.
Right, it's very difficult tocontrol your emotions and your
feelings, unless I say you'reSpock from Star Trek, and you,

(45:52):
you know, your emotions are allvery logical and everything.
No, God gave us these emotions.
God gave us these feelings fora reason because he has them.
He gets angry, he has love,he's jealous, he's he he gave us
this.
So why will we not be that way?
You know what I mean?
Why would we not have those?

(46:13):
But he gives us the roadmap,which is the word of God, on how
to deal with these emotions,how to deal with these issues in
our lives.
And when people say, Oh, thebest self-hook book in the world
is the word of God.
The word of God.
There's anything you have anissue about, somewhere in the
word of God is gonna pop up.
It's gonna pop up in a way thatyou didn't even think it would.

(46:35):
Because I've read verses thatI'm like, whoa, that just sort
of talks about what I'm goingthrough.
But it's not about, it's notword by word, but it it makes
you that verse made it realizethat what I was thinking or
going through, this is be takencare of.
You know, that's the way I seeit.
I I see it as, you know,everybody wants to.

(46:57):
I'm good.
I was the biggest supporter ofself-help information.
You know, I read every bookunder the sun for self-help,
every philosophy book, and Irealized that it was all about
self.
And never about giving up self.
And that's what the word of Godshowed me, is giving myself up
to Him.
That's right.
And let Him direct everything.
So far, that's where I am now,where God will take me tomorrow,

(47:22):
an hour from now, I don't know,but I'm happy to go wherever He
tells me to go.
Or He whatever I need to do, Ido.
If one day He tells me, listen,we you the podcast isn't um,
you know, something's not gonnawork, or you need to go a
different way, I'll pray, andthen if that's the way, then
it'll it'll work that way.
You know, God opens doors andcloses doors.

Israel Caminero (47:44):
He'll need you where he wants you to be.

Javier Malave (47:46):
Yeah, and he's one that will just he won't push
you there, he'll just nudge youslowly.
He'll direct you slowly.
That's why he's the shepherd,right?
With his staff, he just movesyou.
He just directs you to whereyou need to be.
He doesn't push you because hedoesn't want to be that God that
just is one of those wherepeople look at his angry God up
on top and tell you, you needno, he nudges you.

(48:07):
Nudges you.
And if you move and you follow,trust me, man, you're gonna be
on the right path.
And I'm not saying that theworld is gonna be great and your
life is gonna be perfect,because man, God knows our lives
can be a hot mess sometimes.
But we have that foundation wecan fall on, that's right, and
we can trust on, and we can grabonto as a life life raft and

(48:29):
know that we're not on our own.
But yeah, that's uh a littlebit about who I am and what I've
been through.
You know, you have anyquestions, you can ask me away.

Israel Caminero (48:37):
You know, I was just thinking, uh, you
mentioned anime, and my son hasbeen getting into anime lately.
Okay, and he's been wanting meto watch anime with him.
And I haven't watched anime ina long time since I was growing
up.
I mean, I I watched Robotech,Akira, and you know, Man with

(48:58):
the Hair Fist, things like thatback in the day.

Javier Malave (49:00):
Those are those are great.
Yeah, those are great.
And you know, I mean,obviously, in any genre, there's
bad, obviously, right?
The devil will disrupt.
There are animes that I wouldnever ever suggest anybody
watch.

Israel Caminero (49:15):
Right.

Javier Malave (49:15):
But then there are some that have a little bit
of the magic, almost a Lord ofthe Rings style or stuff like
that, but have a message at theend about friendship, about
struggle, about not giving up,about so those are the things
that I try to bring into mypodcast when I talk about anime,
uh, like Naruto, about hisstruggles, about his the father

(49:37):
not being around dealing withdeath of friends, or uh anime
called Freerin.
She's uh uh an elf that canlive forever and doesn't
understand the concept of timeand loses friends and doesn't
know to appreciate the peoplethat are in your lives during
that time.
So I try to use that asknowing, you know, God puts
people in your life, soappreciate it while they're in

(49:58):
your life, you know, and thingslike that.
So, but in anime and anything,in any genre, there's always
horrible music and everything.
But you feel, and if you, youknow, that's why we're parents.
We have to be digital, and ifyou think that it's not for him
to watch, then yeah, you know,you have a right to tell him
listen.
There's an alternative to this.

Israel Caminero (50:19):
Well, that's what I was getting at is um I
found these uh anime books thatare Christian-based.
It's called the manga.

Javier Malave (50:32):
Yeah, the manga.
Yeah, well, I have I have a fewuh I have a New Testament
manga.
I actually have the story ofthere actually is called the
manga Bible.
It's a Bible that's the wholeBible in manga style, which is
the art and everything else.
Yeah, which is really cool.
Um there's a lot of comic booksnow that a lot of Christian

(50:53):
artists are out there doingreally well.

Israel Caminero (50:56):
I also got him a Bible, a Bible called the
Action Bible.

Javier Malave (51:01):
Yes, oh my goodness, you brought back
memories.
So my kids uh that was one ofthe first things I uh I gave him
was uh you know a comicbook-based Bible because kids
obviously colors and they readthem, but there's a lot of stuff
out there.

Israel Caminero (51:15):
He's been reading it.
He's been reading, you know,like all of it.
Like he takes it in the carwith him to read it, and this is
awesome.
This is a thick Bible, youknow, a thick cut book.
It's basically the whole Bible,but in comic form.
Yeah.
And you know, he he's beenreading it and enjoying it, and
I'm like, praise God.

Javier Malave (51:33):
Every little, yeah, and every little like the
Bible says, you know, teach himin the ways, and they and
they'll come and they won'tforget.
Every little word, it's everylittle thing he reads is
ingrained in his soul, in hisheart.
So it will come to him when hegets older.
Trust me, God will start to usethose things.
You know, we we may think ofthem now that the children are

(51:53):
all they're not nah.
God puts that in their heartand he keeps it right there.
He puts it, he stores it inthere in their heart.
So when they get older andthey're about to go through
something, that what they readas children will come up.
It's just a fact.
It's a fact.
Um and praise God for thatbecause I obviously I wish I

(52:13):
could have raised my children alittle more church-wise.
I was very uh open to a lot ofthings with church.
I wasn't very strict in thatway.
Parents that, you know, even ifyou take your kid, buy them a
comic book that's anything.
They have a lot of online, theyhave a lot of uh web-based
comics that you can uh show yourkids.

(52:34):
There's stuff on YouTube,Christian anime, there's
Christian superheroes.
Because I think about the oldschool comics or cartoons,
right?
Uh Scooby-Doo and uhFlintstones and all these.
They always have some moral uhstoryline in between them.
Don't hurt your brother, don'trob, don't steal, don't do this.

(52:55):
That that's been lost obviouslynow uh through animation.
It's become more of uh makingkids grow up very, very fast.
Back then we knew that you, youknow, you you don't hit
somebody, or you don't, youknow, we knew that these were
cartoons that they bounced backup.
They did they fell off a cliff,but they would, if a real
person did it, you know, theywouldn't survive.

(53:15):
We knew that.
And then they started creatingall these uh new animations
where you know they just didn'tthey looked at it where they
made it so real that uh I thinkit it sort of shocked a lot of
people and how these animationshave come out because I have to
say some of these animations arelike whoa, they're worse than

(53:37):
movies, right?
They they can get they can getreally extreme.
And those are the ones that Iwill watch because I'm just a
fan of DC and Marvel and stuff.
But for children, children, Ithink there's a certain age
where they could start to watchthat stuff.
But you I I recommend that yoube with them and or at least

(53:59):
show them what you're watchingand let them.
I'm not telling people to be ohmy god, be on top, but be weary
of what they're watching.
Try to know what they'rewatching, just don't let them
get on and watch an anime.
You know, figure it out, readit, what it's about.
Uh watch an episode before youallow them to watch it so that

(54:19):
you know what they're about to.
Go into two or three episodesbecause sometimes uh anime can
get really nice and cute in thebeginning, but looks like it's
really dark in the middle.

Israel Caminero (54:28):
Yeah.

Javier Malave (54:29):
Um, they do that.
You know, it's it's like theBible says, we have to be sharp,
we have to be smart, we have tobe, you know, we have to ask
questions.
You know, that's one thing Itell people.
Yeah, don't be afraid to askquestions.
God gave us a brain for areason.
He gave us logic for a reasonbecause he wants us to
understand it.

(54:49):
So if you don't ask or try tofigure it out, then you're the
one that's losing.
Because without asking, don'tbe afraid.
I technically do not believethere's any wrong question when
it comes to Christianity orfaith.
There could be weird questions,but not wrong questions, if you

(55:10):
understand what I'm saying.

Israel Caminero (55:11):
Absolutely.

Javier Malave (55:12):
Um, there's there's weird questions because
people can ask the weirdeststuff, but where they're coming
from is not a bad place per se.
Not everyone that asks yourquestion is coming from a good
place.
You know, and that's what I tryto you know understand.
There's nothing wrong withcivil discourse.
There's nothing wrong with usdisagreeing.
There's nothing with us.

(55:32):
If you never want to talk to meagain, then that's fine.
I love you.
I'll pray for you.
I pray that our paths crossagain.
I pray that God touches you.
But there are people that we'renever ever gonna talk to again,
we're never gonna meet again,or we're never gonna be friends
with or have a relationship withafter even having a
conversation with them.

(55:52):
That's just the way it is.
But that seed is planted.
And the seed is planted in youto understand where that person
is coming from.
So when the next time you havea conversation with someone from
that coming from that side, youknow how to deal with that.
You sort of have an idea of howto talk.
Because if you don't talk toanyone or have a discussion, how

(56:14):
are you gonna talk aboutChrist?
How are you gonna talk aboutsalvation if you can't have a
civil conversation with someone?
It's not about beating them todeath, it's not about winning
the argument.
It's about letting them knowwhere you come from and
understanding that where you'reat is a really good place, and
you would love for them to bewith you.
That's all.
I would love for you to join mewhere I'm at right now so that

(56:36):
you can understand the joy thatI have in knowing that where
where my salvation and my faithis and my trust is.

Israel Caminero (56:44):
That's right.
I love your insight oneverything.
And as we come to a close, youknow, I wish we could talk more,
but time is limited.

Javier Malave (56:54):
I told you.
I you gotta reel me in becauseI can keep talking forever.

Israel Caminero (56:59):
Um no, but I love it.
You know, I love your insighton everything and and what you
shared as far as your testimonyand leaving the church and the
disease that you battle and howGod reeled you back in and
everything.
And that's just to show thatyou know our God never leaves or
forsake us.

Javier Malave (57:15):
Like, amen never.

Israel Caminero (57:16):
And all the the books and the store that you
mentioned, I'll have links toall that in the description of
this podcast.
If anybody wants to go check itout, I have links to his his
podcast on here too.
And you know, before we close,I I always ask my guests two
questions.
And I'll and I'll start withthe first one, which is do you

(57:40):
have a life verse that stuckwith you throughout your life,
or even when you're having a badday that you could always go
back and read?
And what what that verse is andwhat does it mean to you,
Javier?

Javier Malave (57:51):
I have so many.
I'm a big Proverbs and uhPsalms fan.
I just I think I don't have aspecific I have a specific
books.
I don't have verses per sebecause I think the Bible is all
beautiful, it's the best poetryin the world.
But uh the book of Psalms andthe Book of Proverbs, things in
there I've read that havechanged my life and my thoughts.

(58:14):
Obviously, the famous, youknow, uh, do I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death?
I've been there.
I've walked through thatvalley.
I've I've been through thelowest of low.
And I know that he's never leftme.
He's always been there.
And despite that, we may thinkhe has, he's not.
He's just there.
He's a gentleman.
He will come to you when youcome to him, and he will open

(58:36):
doors for you to come to him.
And he and you will, and hewill.
And that's the way I see that,how it touches me, is those two
books.
I just they're they're my mycompass.
No pun intended, but that's mycompass, you know.

Israel Caminero (58:54):
Amen.
That's that's fine.
You know, that everyone has adifferent answer.
That's why you know I alwaysask these questions, and I love
to hear everyone out, you know,everyone's answer.
And no one's had the sameanswer, just like no one's had
the same testimony.
You know, right, right, right.
So now I'm going to my back tothe past section of the podcast.
And what my back to the pastsection is, if the Javier of

(59:18):
today can go back in time andtalk to the younger Javier and
let him know the things he knowsof today, what would you say to
him and why?

Javier Malave (59:26):
Stay in church.
Stay with your friends, stayconnected to the people that
were in church with you in thebeginning.
I should have, I wish I wouldhave stayed in contact with
people that were part of myyouth in church wise.
When I first started, I wouldtell myself to enjoy every
friendship and every connectionyou've had when it came to

(59:47):
Christ.
Take those in because they'veall been a blessing, and I wish
I would have kept a lot of themback then that I know now that I
wish I would have appreciated.
And that's what I try to.
Always uh appreciate whenthere's people in your lives
that God puts in your life.
Even if it's for a day, for aweek, an hour.

(01:00:08):
But they they were there foryour life.
They were put there and take itin, keep it, store it, and
enjoy it, you know.

Israel Caminero (01:00:17):
That's right.
That's right.
God places people in our livesto to plant seeds, to be honest
with you.

Javier Malave (01:00:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And even even to rewater us.
Yeah.
Even to fill our cups.
Because we can run dry.
You know, we can run to thepoint where we can't, you know,
drink anymore and we're we'rethirsty.
And God will put somebody inour lives that just fills our
cup with his knowledge and hislove.
Again, I want to thank you forhaving me on.

(01:00:44):
I appreciate it.
Uh, everyone can reach me.
Uh, you'll have the links onyour show.
I'm always available.
My website, I have all theresources there.
Everything is free.
I don't charge anything.
Uh, whatever is donated goes tothe uh New York School of the
Bible, which is a college thatmy church runs, uh, where we

(01:01:06):
teach ministers and we teach uhpeople the word of God.
And so everything goes to thatto support the school.
I don't keep anything formyself.
Uh I don't think I don't Idon't believe in charging my
stuff for if it's gonna spreadthe word of God.

Israel Caminero (01:01:21):
That's good.

Javier Malave (01:01:21):
His his salvation is free, so why would I charge?
That's the way I see it.

Israel Caminero (01:01:26):
Uh like I said, I'll have links to all that in
the description of this podcast,and I hope some of the
listeners that are listeningright go and support this guy.
You know, I mean he's givingthis stuff out for free and
supporting a mission.
So I hope that the peoplelistening go and support you.
You know, before we close out,can you pray over us?

Javier Malave (01:01:47):
Sure, absolutely.
Alrighty, Lord Father, we comeinto your presence right now,
God, humble and honest, Lord.
We love you, we adore you, andwe thank you for your grace and
your salvation.
Lord, we pray for everyonethat's listening, and for us,
Lord, that through our words,through the airwaves, they hear
you, Lord, and they understandyou and they know that you love

(01:02:07):
them and the sacrifice that yourson made for us, so that we can
be in your presence foreternity.
I want people to understandthat.
I want us, Lord, that you blesseach and everyone that's in
this field, in the podcastworld, in the literature and
writing, sharing your word, thatyou bless them and that your

(01:02:29):
word goes all across the world,Lord, and and that everyone gets
touched and knows the joy ofsalvation, the joy of grace.
And I pray for both of us, andI pray for my brother's family,
for his podcast, that it grows,that he shares the word, that he
feels safe and humble and andjust satisfied in you, my Lord,

(01:02:52):
and that you continue to blesshim.
And we ask for everyone to justunderstand that God loves you,
Jesus loves you, he's yoursavior, your salvation.
And I ask all this in yourson's precious name.
Amen.

Israel Caminero (01:03:06):
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you for that prayer.
And once again, thank you fortaking the time to be on the
podcast and share yourtestimony.

Javier Malave (01:03:14):
For sure.
All righty, brother.

Israel Caminero (01:03:16):
It's your story, his glory.

Javier Malave (01:03:18):
Thank you, Lord.

Israel Caminero (01:03:19):
And you know, I I just want to give a shout out
to podcast supporters that havebeen following me since day
one.
Thank you.
My biggest support team is God,of course, but my second
support team is all thefollowing that I've gotten
because of God.
And I just want to thank youfor the encouragement.
Because like Javier was sayingearlier, you know, sometimes we

(01:03:40):
don't want to do this, but we'redoing it for a bigger purpose.
We're doing it for just thatone person to get saved, for
that one person to hear it andwant to know more about God and
Jesus.
Until next time, I just want tosay God bless you and blessings
to you.