49 X 3:16 The Introduction

49 X 3:16

An Introduction

For many years I've thought about writing this book. Reading the Bible from cover to cover once a year has been a habit of mine for quite awhile. The passage from John 3:16 is generally considered the most widely read Bible verse of all time. By reading the entire Bible, I've gleaned a fair amount of understanding from some other 3:16's.

I think it all began early one morning a few years ago in Este's Park, Colorado. It was my final night of training for my position as Emcee with Group Workcamps. My position was similar to that of a youth pastor. All of us at the training would be scattered to cities all over the United States later that year. A group of young people who came from all over the world, would gather in those cities. They would share their summer vacations with economically disadvantaged folks and do service projects. In the evening we'd have programs that would teach them more about serving the way Jesus did. The programs started out with fun and laughter and then went into worship and the Word. I was the Emcee who played host to some incredibly gifted people.

Our training allowed us to spend a few days in one of the most beautiful places that I've ever been. We were nestled in the elk filled forests of the Rocky Mountains. My hikes up into the mountains seemed to be lead by acrobatic humming birds. A few hours after the sun set on my last day of training, I went to bed knowing that I had to get up at 4am. I set my alarm for 4am but I woke up at 3:16am. My mind went to John 3:16. I got out of bed and wrapped up my responsibilities at Estes Park and left for the airport. It was about an hours drive and I began thinking about buying a book when I got there.

I like to reward myself after the accomplishment of a goal that I had set for myself. My reward this time would be the purchase of a book; that was if I could find a reasonably priced book! At the airport bookstore, I found a book written by Jimmy Carter. The book was only 5 bucks and I figured it was a deal to purchase something written by a former President for only 5 dollars. At this moment I don't remember anything else in the book except that it had another "3:16" written in it:

"2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

That verse became a seed in my soul that has not stopped growing. May all of the "3:16's" in this book become seeds in your soul and help you to grow exceedingly above anything that you thought you were capable of.

http://www.amazon.com/49-X-3-Bob-Kuebler/dp/1502873052



Thank's for your time. Go do something nice for an old head.
Jesus loves you and so do we.

Bob Kuebler is the Founder & Director of Youth With A Purpose. Bob has spent the last 12 yrs. learning about pain and perseverance from inner city young people and their families. Healing starts with love and encompasses compassion and empathy. Our mission at YWAP is to inspire inner city young people to develop as God's leaders who overcome the mindset of poverty and gang violence. Bob is the Author of four books, several magazine articles and blogs including The Bright Spot Report. He regularly shares with audiences about how God is redeeming our cities through young people.


Bob can be reached at 716-830-8240

or ywapbuffalo@yahoo.com.

www.youthwithapurpose.org

The Heart Farmers Takes A Mycobacterium Vaccaetion (IT'S GOOD TO PLAY IN THE DIRT!)

           "Daddy, why do you say it's good to get dirty?" Asked the Heart Farmers Daughter. "Well my sweet little Beauty, we all need some dirt under our fingernails!" Replied the Heart Farmer.

           "Before you were born my little darling, I went to the big city to buy some seed. I struck up a conversation with a fella who said he was a scientist. He told me about the benefits of good bacteria in the dirt. He told me that most folks try to kill the bacteria and germs in the dirt because they thought they were bad. It turns out that they were killing all the good germs! That scientist was a smart fella, he used some of them big science words that I never heard before. He told me about something called Mycobacterium vaccae. He said it helps to cause our bodies to release something called seratonin. That's the stuff in our bodies that makes us happy and even think better! He said that vaccae stuff could even help fight diseases like cancer. You know my little sweet petunia, I think maybe we all need a vaccaetion just playing in the dirt!"

           "O Daddy, you're so funny! Maybe when God made people out of dirt, he made us with good bacteria and we just fertilized the good out of the dirt." Said the Heart Farmers Daughter. "The big man looked down at his daughter and smiled as he said: "You're as smart as that scientist my darling. I think God planted some of your Mom's brains in that pretty little head of yours!" The girl giggled as her Heart Farmer Dad swooped her up into his huge arms. She threw her arms around his neck and said: "I love you Daddy!"

Thanks for your time. 
Go do something nice for somebody.

As A Man I Feel Inadequate at Christmas

A manger on the inside.

A barn on the outside.....

           










   

      As a man, I often feel inadequate.
Sometimes I feel like I have to measure up to some manly standard.
I feel inadequate as a father, as a husband, as a son, as a neighbor or as a friend. My view of myself as a provider, whether it be financial or emotional, never seems to be adequate.

          I wonder if Joseph felt inadequate as he led a donkey that carried his pregnant wife. He is supposed to be the provider for his growing family. The best he can do when they need a place to stay is an animal shelter. Looking back on Joseph's history, he must have dome pretty well as a husband and dad. His wife and child went on to change the world forever.

          I wonder if he felt inadequate when his son went missing for 3 days. When Joseph and his wife found their son, he was teaching teachers. When Mary told him how worried that she and his father had been, his reply was: "Didn't you know that I was doing my Father's business?" They didn't have a clue what he meant.

          Sometimes I don't have a clue as a husband or father. I see my children or wife in pain and I want to take it away and I can't. The story of Christmas is about a new birth. The story of the child who was born continues through the years and includes death on a cross. That's not where the story ends.

          Joseph felt inadequate as a dad when his son was missing for 3 days. It must have felt like Christmas when he found his son. I wonder if his mom felt inadequate when her son died on the cross and was dead for 3 days. She must have felt like it was Christmas when he rose again. They don't call it the second Christmas but they could have. Of course they didn't celebrate Christmas back then. They just kept going through a process of having something lost and then found.

          I've come to realize that I must be about my Father's business. There are no inadequacies in His creation. He separated darkness from light. He separated the heavens from the earth. He separated land from water. He separated the seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. He filled his separations with living critters. He separated men and women from the world, created them in His image. 

          I cannot be an inadequate image of God. His creation is constantly separating through lostness and foundness - death and new life. My inadequacies cannot be my cross, they must be nailed to the cross. My heart must be placed in the manger of Christmas.

          A manger may not seem like an adequate place to be born.
 A cross may not seem like an adequate place to die.
The separation between the manger and the cross is another phase of the creation of God. All of His creation works together adequately.

          I hope your Christmas is filled with the newness and foundness of

 peace, joy and love in the smiles of your heart. Jesus loves you and so do we.

The Funeral of Fairness

Many folks bemoan the fact that life is not fair. They complain about others who don't treat them fairly. "IT'S NOT FAIR!" They cry with a voice squealing with self pity.

Fairness is a self imposed prison of expectation.
It's not fair for the butterfly to struggle out of it's cocoon.
It's not fair for the diamond to experience such lonely hardness.
It's not fair for an oyster to be irritated and form a pearl.
It's not fair for a grape vine to be pruned and become more productive.
It's not fair for the sun to spend it's day falling into a sunset.
It's not fair for the trees to loose their leaves in a flaming Fall foliage.

Fairness can be described as our expectation of being treated in a way that doesn't favor others more than ourselves. Give fairness a funeral and die to yourself. You were born to climb on the mountain of conflict and become a servant leader. You were born to give to others without regard to receiving anything for your efforts. The Law of Reciprocity will give you a return on your investment of servanthood. By focusing on fairness you will miss the vision of opportunity. Sowing and reaping: if you sow by serving you will reap generosity.

Thanks for your time. Go serve somebody.

Luke 6:37-38
The Message
37-38 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”

Moral-Scope

"Moral-Scope"

Stretching is good for my body,
not for my morals.

A speed limit causes temptation in me  to
stretch how fast I can go before I get a ticket.
 I don't want a ticket.
 Why do I do what I don't want to do?

Speed becomes a fruit of temptation that consumes my focus instead of the law. Stretching the speed limit is symptomatic of moral stretching in my life. I don't quite have a handle on how I might be stretching moral laws but now I have a "moral-scope" to search them out.

I woke up this morning thinking about the Book of Romans and the law. I never understood it before today. God laid it on my heart to search out the meaning so that by my understanding He could grow greater within me.

Romans 7:14-25
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Mentorology The Dedication

What you are about to read is the Dedication from a soon to be released book about Mentoring. The book is called: "Mentorology Volume One - Building a Mentorship." The book will be released in a few weeks and you may preorder a copy by sending your request to: ywapbuffalo@yahoo.com

  Dedication

I was standing in an airport yesterday when I had a sudden "thought burst" about the Dedication for this book. Sadly, I know many young men who are currently in jail. One of their names came to mind for the Dedication. I decided to dedicate this book to all of the young people who are currently in jail.

The word "vacation" is the term for jail time in the culture of "the hood." A prison sentence has become an acceptable part of life. Behind the concrete walls, barbed wire fences and steel bars there are young people devoid of hope. Some of these guys have not been in trouble for years but somehow they've "caught a case." Some are innocent; all of them hunger for hope. The longer they languish in a hopeless place, the more they become acclimated to hopelessness.

My wife and I are climbing the highpoints of all 50 Sates in America. Earlier this year I experienced altitude sickness on Mt. Humphrey's at 12,637'. A few days later, we reached the top of Wheeler Peak (13,161') after 2 separate attempts on successive days. All symptoms of altitude sickness were gone as my body became acclimatized to the higher altitudes. Climbing Mt Elbert in Colorado at 14,440' was a piece of cake as we stood on top of the second highest mountain in the contiguous United States.

 Back home in New York, we take young people from the inner city up to the Adirondack Mountains about 350 miles away from the hood. They learn perseverance in hiking to the top of a very formidable mountain. Most of them say it's the hardest thing they have ever done. Reaching the peak becomes an accomplishment that helps them as the climb the mountains of life.

They guys in jail are climbing another type of mountain. It's a mountain of self esteem. Becoming acclimated to a prison culture can devalue a person. They derive value from protecting themselves; usually by hurting others. Redeeming human lives does not seem to be the goal in any of the prisons I've visited. Guards lose compassion through the abuse of hardened prisoners. Hopelessness robs human beings of esteem, empathy and compassion.

On of my best friends was a triple murderer who taught me a lot about redeeming human lives. Jerry Balone spent over 37 years in prison. It was a prison program that taught him that he did not have to be a thug and hurt other people before they hurt him. That's how he was raised in a very abusive environment. Abuse was the only life he knew. When he finally learned about respecting yourself and others, he understood and felt bad for what he had done. He became a changed man. I watched him as he spoke to school kids in Erie and Niagara Counties. Jerry was making a difference. He was providing hope.

This book on Mentoring is dedicated to those people in jail who need hope. The jail may be a personal prison or a set of bars. Hope is something that we all need. Hope is something that we can share. The concepts in this book are not rocket science, they are simply tools to help teach folks how to spread hope through our actions.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody. Go give somebody hope.

Brain Food

 

Chapter Twenty Three

 Brain Food

 

Ahhhhhhhh, another Thanksgiving has passed. Another dinner over; folks with full bellies were sprawled on the floor with care, unable to move or even fit in a chair. Yeah, many of us eat way too much during the holidays. It's like somebody gives us a license to over eat once in awhile. Thankfully, the stomach has a limited capacity. If you keep adding food to a full stomach, your body will eventually reject it. Your brain is unlimited in its capacity to grasp new ideas or reinforce old habits. Seize the day or delay until tomorrow? Either choice may be okay; it depends on your circumstances and consequences.

AID to MENTOR NAVIGATION Part 45

People seemed to be wired with a "path of least resistance" brain wave. We bask in the glow of instant gratification. Impulsivity can be a destructive diet composed of impatience and selfishness. As a Mentor your goal is to teach patience and prudence.

"Daddy, why doesn't Mr. Imprudens have any apples on his trees this year?" Asked the Heart Farmers daughter. "We have apples and he doesn't, how can that be?" The big man in coveralls looked down at his precious daughter and smiled as he said: "Well my darling Beauty, it's a matter of being patient with Mother Nature. You see, my little sweet pea, our neighbors wanted their trees to grow more apples and they tried to help them grow. They fertilized too much and they pruned too much and they planted their trees in the wrong place. "The little girl looked sad as she stared down at her muck boots. Suddenly her little face brightened like a wet leaf glistening in the sun after a summer rain. Beauty looked up at her Dad, squinting her eyes in the strong sun rays and said: "Daddy, can we share our apples with Mr. Imprudens?" The Heart Farmer smiled a smile that stretched from the top of his straw hat to the bottom of his mud splattered boots. "Yes my little Beauty, we can share with the Imprudens Family."

Teaching patience and prudence takes patience and prudence. You will reap what you sow in the proper season. Be patient!  

AID to MENTOR NAVIGATION Part 46

Character is making sound moral decisions. Character is built through the experience of witnessing other people make moral decisions. My parents signed me up for Boy Scouts at a very young age. Seeds were planted in my character that took many years to grow. You may not be into Boy Scouts but the following "Brain Food" will help you and the person you Mentor develop a healthy "Character Diet."

Boy Scout Oath or Promise

On my honor, I will do my best

To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times;

To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

Boy Scout Law

A Scout is:

•           Trustworthy,

•           Loyal,

•           Helpful,

•           Friendly,

•           Courteous,

•           Kind,

•           Obedient,

•           Cheerful,

•           Thrifty,

•           Brave,

•           Clean,

•           Reverent.

Boy Scout Motto

Be Prepared!

I use the words "Be Prepared" almost everyday. Preparedness is the plan that helps you achieve goals and avoid disasters.  Patience and prudence are tools in the planning process. Many years ago in several different books, there was a list of virtues published that would be good for anyone to follow.

1.      Feed hungry folks. (That's great brain food!)

2.      Give drink to thirsty folks.

3.      Lend a hand to a stranger in need.

4.      Cover those who are exposed.

5.      Visit sick folks.

6.      Visit jailed folks.

Go build your character as you feed virtuous character to the people you Mentor by being a good role model.

Thanks for your time.

 Go do something nice for somebody.