Are You A Cleaving Clefter?

Did you ever hear the sun complain about yesterday's overcast skies?
Did you ever hear a tree complain about losing it's leaves?
Did you ever hear a snowflake complain about melting?
Did you ever hear the wave complain about leaving the shore?
Did you ever hear a shooting star complain about falling?
Did you ever hear a raindrop complain about being lost in the ocean?
Did you ever hear the moon complain about sharing the sky?

The sun always rises, even after the darkest night.
Spring always sprouts even after the harshest winter.
Melting, raining or crying, there is movement.

Moving water is a river of life. 
Even the heavens dance in a storm.
The sky is a party announcing a new day is dawning - EVERYDAY!
Go share a new day!
 
CLEAVING & CLEFTING

Cleaving can be cutting or clinging.
 Some folks cling to the cutting
 and end up clefting (they become hardened hearts.)


Be careful in your cleaving,
you may end up as a cleft.

Cleavers hold on to bitter memories
causing calcification in their hearts.

If God is not your Rock,
your hardened heart will end up as sand.

God can turn your hardened heart into
a cleft where His glory passes by.

Sometimes God uses bitter folks
to cause brokenness in other people.

Is it I, Lord?

Isaiah 57:5
Inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, Slaying the children in the valleys, Under the clefts of the rocks?

Exodus 33:22
So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.

Jeremiah 49:16
Your fierceness has deceived you, The pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

Song of Solomon 2:14
“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.”
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.

HEY TEACHER LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!

All the nice little students with their halos march orderly into your classroom. Taking their seats, they sit in silence waiting for you to fill their heads with knowledge. A student in the front row smiles, raises his hand and asks: "Teacher, can we please take a test today?" If you think that's the normal beginning of a Teacher's day, you must be smoking something. A day in a Teacher's life is more like trying to stop a fallen leaf in the Niagara River from going over the Falls! A Teacher must be a highly skilled relationship builder who Teaches children how to navigate the rapids of life. How do you build relationships with students?

If you're looking for a quick fix and a simple list of rules to follow, go read a book on manners and etiquette. Go with the flow is a good way to describe relationship mentoring. That does not mean you hop into the Niagara River and join the leaf as it goes over the Falls. What I'm about to describe is a process that BEGINS WITH YOU! The first relationship you must build is with yourself.

If you have not already done the deep soul searching of knowing who you are, drop your pens, pencils and paintbrushes and start seeking. Here are some good questions to begin with:

• What are you good at?
• What is your learning style?
• How do you get out of your comfort zone?
• Do you know how to ask for help?
• Why are you a Teacher?
• What is a good risk?
• Do you know what compassion is?
• How do you form a relationship with someone who rubs you the wrong way?
• Are you positive or negative?

There are many other personal queries that will help you "know thyself." If you don't understand yourself, you cannot begin to understand the true responsibilities of a Teacher.

Here is a story I read once that describes the life of a typical child that will come to your classroom. Wolves eat caribou. The wolf pack will have a meeting and discuss which one of the caribou they would like to eat. They look at the young, elderly or disabled. After having made their choice of which caribou they will kill and feast on, they identify which of their own will be the killers. One or several members are chosen as the slashers. Their job is to chase down the chosen victim and slash the caribou. After the initial slashing, the wounded caribou retreats to the safety of the herd. Bloodletting begins to weaken the slashed caribou. The slashers renew their pursuit and slash the victim again. Sometimes the victim will fall, sometimes they return once again to the safety of the herd, The loss of life as the blood drains away eventually causes the victim to weaken and give up. The wolf pack moves in and dines on another defenseless victim.

Children come into the safety of your classroom. They are escaping a world of abuse. They are escaping the gang in the street. They are escaping the older sister who urges them to get pregnant and live off the system (because they did.) They are escaping a Mom who tells them to quit school and get a job so they can support Mom's drug habit. Everyday the caribou student comes into the safety of your herd and escapes the wolves of the world. Can you handle that?

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.

Dear Teacher - NO RULES!

I hope your day is filled with heart smiles! I'm glad you're here dear Teacher. I personally believe that you have the most important job on the face of the earth. You are in charge of 100% of the future - our children. As an old head who has taught thousands of children in classrooms and on top of mountains, I thought maybe I could share some wisdom with you. Today's lesson is about rules.

Your first rule for the first day back to school is:

DO NOT START THE YEAR WITH RULES!

     Please start the year by building relationships. Rules will separate you emotionally from the vast majority of young people you are trying to reach.  Relationship building leads to the freedom of motivation. For many years, we engaged students in a process we call: "Relationship Mentoring." We cannot mentor unless we have a relationship. After we have built a relationship, we mentor in the power of the emotional moment where the student currently resides. Let me go a little deeper with the concept of "Power Moment Mentoring.

 Each student usually carries emotional baggage of some kind. Maybe they got kicked out of their home, didn't eat in a few days, has been abused, their family split up, somebody died or worse. The things our children live with today can be emotionally devastating. The average exposure age to porn is 9 yrs old. Statistics show that 1 in 3 girls have been victims of abuse and 1 in 5 boys have also been victims of abuse. The point here is that you as a Teacher will face many students everyday who carry emotional baggage. If you are going through a divorce, is your mind totally focused on the task in front of you? Children need to be given tools for their Emotional Toolbox. If you ignore the emotional baggage in the heart of a child, you might as well tell the child: "I don't really care about you as a person. You are just another student whose head I want to fill with useless stuff!"

Once a child knows that you care, you have planted the seed of possibility. It's a sad fact that your Teacher Evaluation will not keep track of all of the moments that you have truly made a difference in a child's life. Not every apple makes it out of a students heart and on to your desk. Not every student will say thank you. Some student may be sitting in jail someday remembering your words and then they will begin to emerge from their cocoon of struggle. The key to successful Teaching is building relationships.

Did you notice that every time I use the word Teacher it's capitalized? It's a sign of how much I respect you and your efforts to make a difference in a child's life. If you need help building relationships, we are available all year. You can simply email or call with a question. We mentor in schools with Students as well as Teachers. We mentor in assemblies, classrooms and campgrounds. Camping is a great relationship building tool!

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

(The next Bright Spot Report will give "Tips on Building Relationships." 
We will publish that article on Friday August 30, 2013

"Find new ways, 

  in as many ways, 

    in more excellent ways, 

      on all of your days, 

        to show love." 

 

Bob Kuebler
YWAP Director

Youth With A Purpose

In School & After School
In The Mountains & In The Hood "All Children Are Gifted"

157 Locust Street

Buffalo, New York 14204

716-830-8240 ywapbuffalo@yahoo.com

http://www.youthwithapurpose.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-With-A-Purpose-Inc/111808805513470

http://thebrightspotreport.blogspot.com/
A Scholarship for a young person to attend a 3 day Wilderness Adventure in the Adirondack Mountains is valued at $185. We are a 501c3 and your donations are tax deductible. You may give online at: http://www.gofundme.com/73te4
If you are looking for a speaker for parents or youth or both, please call us.  

Imperfect Fruit

     Our tenure at Holy Cross has been a very fruitful and imperfect season. Sometimes kids break things, We see the brokenness in their own hearts. Sometimes kids reject us. We sense their own rejection. Sometimes kids will lash out at us. We feel the results of somebody abusing them.

     Most folks do not have any desire to work in a place where your heart is broken once a week. It's hard to explain why you might want to be here. Our time here has been truly rewarding and we have been blessed immeasurably. Volunteers are hard to come by, especially in a place where devalued children act disrespectful. Police are regular visitors to our neighborhood. Gunshots, drug deals and threats of violence are the norm in the area around the Youth Center. Kids soak up their surroundings and bring them inside our walls.

     Children need discipline and supervision. We have not always been adequate in those departments. But when I talk to many of the thousands of young people who have come through our doors in the last 10 years, they speak about relationships. A kid knows he can come in and hear someone look them in the eye and say: "It's good to see ya!" Some kids stop in for a moment of feeling validated and then they are on their way. They know that even if we do throw them out, they are welcomed back unconditionally.

     We used to keep the gym open until 1am because there are kids on the streets with nowhere to go. Nobody knows how many homeless kids live from "couch to couch." If someone would ask me what I would do with a million bucks it would be this: We would create a 24-7 youth center. A place where young ladies could go to talk about the child in their womb. A place where young men could learn the game of life through a disciplined approach to basketball. A place where jobs are created through an entrepreneurial program. A place where Bible studies teach young people how to apply the love of Jesus to their broken hearts. It would be a 24/7 Relationship Center.

     In our gym, it was common to hear: "Pull your pants up!" "Watch your language!" "Respect the ladies!" We focused on character and Boaz Basketball. During our last Block Club Basketball season, all the young men heard about the Love of Jesus all summer long. The whole community heard about the love of Jesus all summer long. It was exciting. The guys smoking dope near the court were politely asked to stop and they did. The guys using foul language were asked to stop and they did. We do have some supervision that people may not see.

     We are very grateful for our season at Holy Cross. We will continue to operate the Center for the foreseeable future. It's a time of expansion for Youth With A Purpose Inc. Growth follows pruning. We are mentoring in the Buffalo Schools and reaching over a thousand children each year. Sometimes we take them camping. The owners of the cabin sometimes urge us to have more supervision. We try and provide that.

     I spent most of yesterday in Federal Court listening to Prosecutors talk about the bad kids. I hurt for these kids. I feel like we have let them down by not providing enough opportunities to be good kids. Thanks again for caring.

Jesus loves you and so do we.

 

"Find new ways, 

  in as many ways, 

    in more excellent ways, 

      on all of your days, 

        to show love." 

 

Bob Kuebler
YWAP Director

Youth With A Purpose

In School & After School
In The Mountains & In The Hood "All Children Are Gifted"

157 Locust Street

Buffalo, New York 14204

716-830-8240
http://www.youthwithapurpose.org/

LIFE-SALT HEALS WOUNDS

A flower amidst thorns.

Yes, you can flower amidst thorns.

A thorny relationship can heal and

 flower into a more excellent love.

Our message yesterday morning (8-17-13) at Last Days Fellowship followed a root theme. In our families, the roots of generations of woundedness lie buried under layers of unhealed selfishness.

Life has a way of throwing salt on old wounds that causes them to bubble up to the surface of our emotional consciousness. As we try to control the pain, we place the cause of the pain on the people closest to us and try to control them. If we allow the pain to fester, an infection of evil will set in. There are only 2 paths in life: love and fear. We have the free will to choose our life path.

 Free will is a key that can unlock one of 2 doors: The door of self will open to demonic influence. The other door opens to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

God takes our understanding and flips it upside down. We would not choose a painful path of growth. The way of humanity is the path of least resistance. Physical salt on a physical wound will only result in preserving the pain. Only the Spirit of God can flip your physical understanding into spiritual wisdom. He wants to heal us from our controlling selfishness and preserve us for eternal life.

Salt on a buried wound is meant to be a healing agent. This type of salt is called: "Life-salt." By definition, salt is a seasoning and a preservative. The life-path of love is designed for deeper and continual growth. There can be no growth without brokenness. You are meant to be a heart farmer who breaks the ground in the fertile soil of wounded hearts. A heart farmer sows seeds in yielded hearts. The seed grows into a bigger heart capable of a more excellent love.  A good heart farmer seasons what he sows with "Life-salt." 

The world inherently pours salt on your old wounds reopening scarred tissue. The love of God is like a river flowing as a balm of healing. Do not be afraid to go deep into the crevices of pain in your soul. The wound needs to be exposed. The person who was wounded is not you because you are a reborn child of God. His mercies are new each day. Your heart can smile again with an infectious grin that stretches from heart beat to heart beat. Take the hand of Jesus and visit the place in your soul where you have hidden your emotional scars. Peel away the layers of control like a tree bares itself in the forest. Expose yourself to God's unconditional and unceasing love. He will heal you. He will restore you.

 

Let go, yield your pain to the Holy Spirit. Ask God to take your desire for control away. Seek to be filled with a more excellent way of love. Pursue peace in your soul. Make your life a continual quest to search for others who need the healing that you have received. Forage forgiveness on all of the days of your life. 

 Jesus is our "Life-salt." 
The Holy Spirit is our "Life-path." 
The Father is our "Life-everlasting."

The Holy Spirit will lead you into a space of repentance and healing if you yield your selfish control to God. The dormant wound left unhealed can open the door to the spirit of control.  That's dangerous and eternally life threatening. The answer is found in Galatians 5:16-26:

Amplified Bible
16 But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).
17 For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.
18 But if you are guided (led) by the [Holy] Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.
19 Now the doings (practices) of the flesh are clear (obvious): they are immorality, impurity, indecency,
20 Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions (dissensions), party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies),
21 Envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness,
23 Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [[a]that can bring a charge].
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires.
25 If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit [b]we have our life in God, let us go forward [c]walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]
26 Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another.

Galatians 5:16-26
The Message (MSG)
16-18 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.
22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.

"Find new ways, 

  in as many ways, 

    in more excellent ways, 

      on all of your days, 

        to show love." 

Bob Kuebler
YWAP Director

Youth With A Purpose

In School & After School
In The Mountains & In The Hood "All Children Are Gifted"

157 Locust Street

Buffalo, New York 14204

716-830-8240http://www.youthwithapurpose.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-With-A-Purpose-Inc/111808805513470

http://thebrightspotreport.blogspot.com/
A Scholarship for a young person to attend a 3 day Wilderness Adventure in the Adirondack Mountains is valued at $185. We are a 501c3 and your donations are tax deductible. You may give online at:
http://www.gofundme.com/73te4
If you are looking for a speaker for parents or youth or both, please call us.  

Holy Cross Gym is Closed

A cross in a hoop.

Jesus was our focus

We hope your day is filled with extravagant opportunities to smile! Sometimes it's hard to smile when sad news is on the horizon. The last basketball has fallen into the rim at Holy Cross. After many years of young people playing basketball in the Holy Cross Gym, the backboards and rims have been taken down. The gym will no longer be used as an athletic facility.

The parish needs the space for other church activities. It would be great if there were more buildings we could use for youth programs. Space and funding are always a problem. For almost 10 years, Youth With A Purpose has operated a community center that included the use of the gym. It has been a fantastic era. We estimate that over 100,000 young people have come through those doors.

The gym has been a

We taught about the game of life.

relationship building entry point. Young men have been
told to pull up their saggin' pants and watch their language. We come down hard on any guy who disrespects a lady. We've broken up fights and restored peace. There has been only one serious injury that we can recall. That was a young man who broke his arm when he fell awkwardly. Already the absence of the gym is being felt. Our Block Club Basketball team will have to practice outside. They are in the Playoffs with 2 possible games left. Playing outside is good if the weather is good, so it is not a big deal. Winter weather fills the gym. We existed with a small staff of mostly volunteers. A little effort went a long way.

We will continue mentoring large numbers of young people. We feed many kids from our kitchen in the Youth Center after school. We tutor as needed and run a host of other programs. This summer has been one of our busiest. Check out all of the photo albums on our Facebook page at:
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-With-A-Purpose-Inc/111808805513470
You will see we have been unbelievably busy!

We will open the school year with a Freshmen Orientation at Global Concepts Charter School. Call us if you are looking for mentors in your school. 716-830-8240 According to one retired Buffalo Principal: "Since YWAP has been in our school, grades are up, suspensions are down and behavioral problems have leveled off." Every year we are asked to facilitate classroom mentoring sessions and assembly programs. We have speakers on all topics relevant to students middle school, high school and college. Our Wilderness Adventure Program continues to attract adventurers looking for some team building combined with a whole lot of fun and exercise.

The Alpha Omega International Music Ministry is exploding. We have a very talented group of musicians and songwriters from different countries including Russia, Korea, Burma, India, and America. We present programs in churches, youth camps, parks, city missions, schools and street corners. The team does something we call: "WWW" or "Word Within Worship." Music is combined with a fast moving message. We would love to rap to your group!

It is sad to think that the last basket has been made at Holy Cross. However,

 "All things work together for good!" Romans 8:28

EVERYTHING.....
Has happened so that the glory of God can be revealed.
Instead of blaming people for bad things,
just believe that all bad things work together for good.
Don't let yourself be blind to the limitless
and unfathomable glory of God.
He can soften hardened hearts in the blink of an eye.
If you are in the cleft of a hardened heart,
let God's glory pass by.

Exodus 33:22 Amplified Bible
And while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

John 9:1-5 The Message
True Blindness

9 1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

We are grateful for all of the years that we had the opportunity to form relationships with young people in the Holy Cross Gym. We look forward to the new things that God will lead us to. His mercies are new each day.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.

The focus of YWAP basketball is:

 Love God & Love your neighbor.

"Find new ways, 

  in as many ways, 

    in more excellent ways, 

      on all of your days, 

        to show love." 

Bob Kuebler
YWAP Director

Youth With A Purpose

In School & After School
In The Mountains & In The Hood "All Children Are Gifted"

157 Locust Street

Buffalo, New York 14204

716-830-8240http://www.youthwithapurpose.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-With-A-Purpose-Inc/111808805513470

http://thebrightspotreport.blogspot.com/
A Scholarship for a young person to attend a 3 day Wilderness Adventure in the Adirondack Mountains is valued at $185. We are a 501c3 and your donations are tax deductible. You may give online at:
http://www.gofundme.com/73te4
If you are looking for a speaker for parents or youth or both, please call us.  

THE ALPHABET of DIVORCE

Yeah, you're probably wondering why divorce would be in a Bright Spot Report. It's simple: If God can cause a kernel of wheat to fall to the ground and die before it sprouts new life, He can do the same in a marriage. 
 

John 12:24 The Message

^24-25 “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

The terms below represent seeds that must die. Read them and let them die. If you don't let them die, the Tree of Resentment will grow. That Tree reproduces itself through your offspring. Yeah! I'm talking about children. Your resentment will reseed itself in your children and eventually sprout in their future relationships. 

Please notice the end result in the Alphabet of Divorce = "ZERO."

The Alphabet of Divorce

Abandonment
Betray
Cast Out
Desertion
Exclude
Forsake
Give Up
Hang
Ignore
Jilt
Kill
Leave
Mutilate
Nasty
Obsolete
Put Down
Quit
Reject
Spurn
Throw Away
Unforgiving
Venomous
X
Yield
Zero

Hebrews 13:5 Amplified Bible

5 Let your [a]character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] [b]Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor [c]give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [d][I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor [e]let [you] down ([f]relax My hold on you)! [[g]Assuredly not!]

Deuteronomy 31:6 The Message

6 “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”

Psalm 23:4 Amplified Bible

"4 Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me."

 Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.