In this day and age when standing up for your faith can result in being ostracized or cancelled in public
forums, I felt it very important that I write the story of my daughter’s personal stance for her faith at her
school, Glendale Community College, and how beautifully her stance was received and respected.
MaCaedyn graduated from our homeschool program at the age of 16 and couldn’t wait to start college
at the age of 17. She worked so hard all through high school and because of her ambition and excellence
in studies and grades, she was awarded the Presidential Scholarship for GCC. MaCaedyn has been
singing and performing in churches and public stages since she was two years old, so it made sense to us
when she made the decision to become a Music Theater major.
For her first semester she wanted to get as much of the general core studies completed a possible and
carried 21 credit hours (and received straight “A’s” making the President’s List!). Because of her
workload she did not audition for the fall semester play. Instead, she was excited to audition for the
spring musical.
The responsibility for researching the content of a play or musical before auditioning for it, falls
completely upon the actor or actress and I say honestly, MaCaedyn, myself, and her father all dropped
the ball in doing this. We completely admit that it was 100% our responsibility and we did not get it
done. Lesson learned. We will always make sure there is complete understanding of the content of the
play or musical before any of us audition for it in the future.
When the audition dates were posted for the spring musical, MaCaedyn began preparing and was very
excited to audition for her first college production. After her audition she received all the “call backs”
and finally learned that she had been cast in the musical. We were thrilled and so proud of her!
Then, MaCaedyn received a message from the director who kindly and respectfully wanted her to be
aware that there was a song in the musical that mentioned a girl having an abortion. It wasn’t
MaCaedyn’s character who sang the song, but other members of the cast were going to sing backup for
the character who did. The director, knowing that MaCaedyn was underage, wanted her to have the
information about the song so that we could talk about it together and make the decision as to whether
or not she would participate in that song.
Josh and I were very thankful that this director took such steps to make sure we understood there was a
song which had this content. We immediately began researching the lyrics of that song and the overall
content of the musical… which we should have done in the first place.
After we all read through everything we prayed and talked and prayed some more… and God answered.
MaCaedyn knew in her heart that it wouldn’t be enough for her to step down from just singing backup
on that song. She believed that she needed to step down from the entire musical production. She has
worked all her life with the rest of us to assist children in need and stand up for the protection of all
children, those born and those yet to come. She felt that being connected to a musical that portrayed
abortion so casually in just one of the songs was enough to send the wrong message to others about
herself and her work for children. She didn’t want to do anything which would not represent her beliefs
well and could be viewed as hypocritical.
Josh and I were so proud of her for the choice that she made, though we knew she had been so excited
to participate in her first college musical and she had worked so hard to prepare for the audition, we
trusted that God would bless her for choosing to represent Him well.
MaCaedyn wanted to email the director of the musical to let her know about the decision she had made
to step down but didn’t know where to begin to write it. After talking with her about what she wanted
to say, we prayed to the Lord for the right words. I helped her draft an email that she was pleased with,
but before sending it, once again, we prayed and asked God to let the letter land upon the heart of the
director with the Fruits of the Spirit of love, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.
You see, we fully believe that people should stand up for their faith, especially in these days when it is so
imperative that we do, and when we take those stances, we firmly believe it should be done in such a
manner that represents our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Word of God, very well. We believe
that when these stances are taken, the effect upon the people who know about it can go one of two
ways.
The first way, if we do not represent Christ and God’s Word well, can make us look completely
hypocritical. If we do not implement the examples and teachings of Jesus Christ given to us in God’s
Word, and we lash out in anger, or in harsh judgement, no one will believe that we represent the God of
Love. Furthermore, if we represent Him in such a poor manner, we will also lose the opportunity to ever
minister to them. After all, who would want to listen to someone talk about the love of Jesus if they are
verbally attacking, degrading, or judging them? We also cannot be blessed by God if we choose not to
represent Him well to others. He cannot pour out His promised blessings upon us if we are not pleasing
to Him and His commands.
The second way, if we do represent Christ well to the best of our ability as human beings can, then we
not only can receive blessings of the goodness of God for pleasing Him by our representation, but we
also have ministered to the people involved in our situation. They may not realize it right away, but
when a person takes a stand for their faith in Jesus Christ and represents Him as we are directed in
God’s Word, we are, through that situation, planting the seeds of Jesus’ love into their hearts. We are
showing them how much Jesus means to us. How much God’s Word means to us, and how important it
is to serve and obey Him. We are showing them the Fruits of the Spirit of self-control by not verbally
attacking, lashing out, or being harsh and judgmental. The judgment seat is reserved for One and One
alone, and that is Jesus Christ. Because He is the one who suffered, bled, and died for our sins, He is the
One to whom the position of Judge belongs. Can we make a judgment about a person’s character? Of
course. Can we judge whether or not we want to allow someone to house sit or watch our children? Yes. Can we
make a judgement about whether or not we should loan someone your car or go into business with someone?
Absolutely. But we never are to judge a person’s soul. Judgement of a person’s soul is a work that only Christ can do.
It was very important to MaCaedyn that she handled this situation with the grace, love and gentleness
that her Heavenly Father gives her. She likes all the people in her department very much and had many
friends who were participating in the musical. She hoped to be able to shine the light of Jesus into their
lives and saw this as the perfect opportunity to do that. Again, she prayed and asked God that He would
bless her email and that His perfect will would be done.
Here is what the email said:
Hello,
My parents and I wanted to thank you, sincerely, for letting us know about the content of
the “Me and Ricky” song in the musical. We are thankful for you giving us such respect to
let us know about it as you did.
I must apologize to you and my parents want to apologize too, that we did not properly
review this musical before I auditioned for it. That is totally our fault, and we are all very
sorry that we didn’t take the time to do that before I auditioned. We accept full
responsibility for not doing that and we promise that we will take the time to do that before
I audition for anything in the future.
Please know my parents have raised me to be a person who is not judgmental of anyone
else, but to show love, kindness and respect to others. I wanted to explain that I am a
Judeo-Christian and while I know that I have my flaws to work on, I do try to represent in
my life what I believe in God’s Word.
My family also has a 501c3 nonprofit ministry for children and we serve children
internationally on several continents. Our work has many parts to it, but our main focus is
to assist children in need and speak out for the care and protection of all children, for those
with us and for the unborn.
Please know that I hold no personal judgments of anyone who would participate in this
show and will still show all my friends who are in it the same kindness that I always have.
Having said that, I feel that if I were to participate in the show knowing the “Me and Ricky”
song is part of its content, even if my character is not singing during that song, I would still
be going against what I believe and the work I do for children. So, I wanted to write to you
and quietly step down from the role of Julie that you kindly gave me.
My parents and I have learned our lesson about doing our research on things before I
audition so that I don’t complicate the casting process for you or any other directors that I
may have the opportunity to work with in the future. I do thank you for giving me the
opportunity and I thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely, MaCaedyn LaFon-Cox
Josh and I trusted that because MaCaedyn was choosing to stand up for God’s Word where abortion is
concerned, that He would protect her, help her, and bless her for it. She sent the email to her teacher on
a Friday, and we spent the weekend praying over the matter. I knew that no matter what happened,
God was with her, and He would bring goodness out of it.
My mind traveled back to a time when I took a stance of faith at ASU over a project that went against
my faith. When I spoke to my teacher, I too had prayed about it and spoke with kindness, gentleness, and respect, yet my stance was not well received by my teacher and the other students involved in the project. I was given the
choice to fail the class for not doing the project or drop the class with no refund. I chose to drop the
class. Yet, God was with me the whole time and He intervened for me. The department chair found out
what happened to me and not only called to apologize to me for it but made sure I received a full refund
for the class tuition. God was with me then and I knew that He would be with MaCaedyn now. We didn’t
ask God to help MaCaedyn with this situation after that, we thanked Him that He already had.
On Sunday morning, MaCaedyn came in to read us an email from her teacher. It was a very kind and
respectful response showing MaCaedyn her full support for her decision and ended by stating that she
“looked forward to working with her on future projects”!
MaCaedyn’s friends who had been cast in the play completely supported her decision and just let her
know how much they were going to miss her.
Not only that, but MaCaedyn was still able to audition for the Glendale Community College play directed
by another teacher and was cast for several parts in it! Some of her friends that are in the musical even
auditioned for the play so they could participate in it with her!
And all was well because of Jesus.
The play MaCaedyn will be in is called “Crazytown” and it opens on Friday, April 7, 2023 and has
performances on April 8 th , 14 th and 15 th . We will be there to support her in every performance we can!
God is so good and so faithful! Standing up for Him and His Word is always the best choice a person can
make. God’s Word and His promises are just as true now as they were thousands of years ago. He will
never leave us nor forsake us, especially when we stand up for Him.
I am so thankful for the hearts of the teachers at Glendale Community College in the music theater
department who teach their students that they never have to do anything that they are not comfortable
with, that is almost unheard of in this day and time and needs to be recognized and celebrated.
I am so thankful to know there are teachers at Glendale Community College who are kind and respectful
of their students’ beliefs. That they do not judge or condemn, ostracize or cancel their students if they
don’t want to participate in something which would compromise their faith.
I felt in this day and age when these kinds of stories are rarely heard, that MaCaedyn’s story was shared
because this is how things ought to be. The pastor of my youth, Brother Diffie, always said, “We should
agree to disagree agreeably”. Simple, yet powerful words for us all to live by.
MaCaedyn does not judge or condemn anyone who thinks or believes different than she does and she
handled this situation in a way that I believe made her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, truly proud. She
represented Jesus well in this matter and the teachers of Glendale Community College handled it
beautifully too.
We are thankful to God for His help and we are so proud of MaCaedyn’s heart for Him.
(MaCaedyn says I need to end this by saying…. HUZZAH! And I would like to add HALLELUJAH! Thank
You, Jesus!)
Angelique La Fon-Cox 