Help For Vets Part 2

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This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Man Talk, brought to you by TAWCMN, talking and walking Christian men's ministry, where they're devoted to breaking down the walls of race and denomination, and challenging men to take their God-assigned role. Here's our hosts Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr., a black guy and a white guy. Welcome to Man Talk Radio. This is Roy Jones Jr., the white guy.

And this is Will Hardy, the black guy. And Roy, we are continuing with our conversation with Bob from Hero Center. Mr. Bob Uber.

Yes sir. Not the founder of Uber Transportation. No, I was just gonna say, somebody might be saying, is this guy related?

Is he related? I am Mr. Uber. So I will give you a ride to Walmart.

You call me and I'll help you. You may not get a ride back, but it'll get you there. So Bob, we appreciate you coming back and being with us this week. You know, we were talking last week about the Hero Center, things you guys do for the Hero Center. So, and you know, what benefits that the veterans, when they come to you, some of the things that they would benefit by coming to the Hero Center, which is just tons of tons of things that you shared with us on last broadcast. So on this broadcast, let's focus more on the individual and some of the things that you as the Hero Center founder have seen and some success stories that you might want to share with the listening audience in reference to some of the guys or women who have come through and how the Hero Center has benefited them and, you know, what they're telling people.

Yeah, yeah. Well, again, this is a men's talk, but as I alluded last week, we serve women vets, women serve honorably in the military. They deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. And so they often experienced the same combat trauma, the same PTSD, and the same thing happens. They lose their way. There's just a gap between, you know, getting out of the military and all that structure and trying to find their way. And they really get hopeless.

They really do fall into despair and that maybe this is a good time to do the shout out. You know, there's another pandemic going on in our country that most of America may not be aware of. And it's called suicide. It's a big deal in the military. There are 22 suicides every day. Wow.

Just a startling statistics that there would be that many who were equipped to fight and they're trained killers, but they can't obtain the enemy from within that rages the voice, those images. And so you kind of go through depression and then you kind of get despondent cause this, you know, I'm not getting my benefits. I'm not getting work. And then all of a sudden you're in despair and then you feel helpless. And then finally it's hopeless. And a different opinion too is that helpless means I can't help me, but maybe you can help me. Hopeless means I can't help me and you can't help me either. Or you're not there to help me. I can't see it. I just can't see. I can't see everything that's all around me because I've succumbed mentally. You have that mental, it's a war of the mind. And so just to shout out to all vets, just take care of each other. If you're thinking about it, get help, but it's, it's beatable. And let's get it out of the closet and say, you know, we really need to, if you want to come to the Hebrew center, you know, and, and we have trained people there, especially the social worker Beth, which is my wife and the camp director.

She's so good at giving people hope, giving them tools that they can use to, to help them. But clearly the issue is isolation. Again, they get themselves isolated and then all of a sudden they feel that hopelessness. And it's a starting statistic because I was in Vietnam and there were probably 57,000 that were killed in Vietnam. But the last count, which is a year old, there were 118,000 suicides. So there was more killed from Vietnam through suicide than it was through combat. So one of the things that we want to help people who come to the hero center is to give them hope.

And on both fronts, not only is it a faith-based hope, but it is a hope that there is success awaiting. If you will come through and do the homework, there's a learning curve, but tools to how to deal with anxiety and, and, and those things and stay connected to other veterans and deal with issues. A lot of times there's some cleanup that these vets need who end up at our center. Perhaps there's a DUI that they're sitting on and maybe a felony. You know, there's something back there that has kept them from employment. So now they don't have a car until they don't have a job. And that's how you get that's how you hope homeless. And so we take them in and, and, and we'll typically give them a month's free rent, you know, where they're in there. And then we will help them.

We have one in there right now that is completing his month. He likes it there and he'd like to stay, but, you know, it's like raising kids, raising Robbins, you know, the sparrow at some point in time, where you want to give them a foundation and then give them wings to do that. Well, he's looking at a couple of job opportunities. So now he has got the hope because you lose your significance when you're not working. And so we, we really do help them again, prepare to be a good employee. And so he's looking to start work on a Monday. So now he, again, he doesn't have the car yet, and he doesn't have the money to repair that. And, and so we're inclined to extend him a little bit to do that. What kind of happens is when you come out of the military and then you find a job and go to work and like landscaping or some day labor that kind of runs out of gas.

And those are the first to fall. So now I'm 27 years old and I just lost my job. Okay. And so I just, I'm stuck. I don't, I don't know where to go.

I'm still a millennial. I'm still hireable. I don't have the tools.

I don't have the money to go to a university. So that's where our job training program really, really does fit with them to do that. So they can come in on a, on a short six, eight, 10 week program and get themselves some, some help with their benefits.

I give them some help with their, their issues that they're facing. We bring people into them. You know, VA has been a little bit more flexible. I do a shout out to the Cartersville hospital there. They have, they have come out in the field, they have a mobile benefit truck and they'll bring out the whole truck and set it out there.

And so you could just like, you don't even have to go to Congressville. And, and so I do, I do appreciate the administrator who's been out a number of times to speak for us. Erica has made those benefits available. So they need to benefits. Oftentimes we can get them compensation that they've been turned down for. So we provide advocacy and connected with people that do that.

So it really is getting them the foundational pieces that any of us need in society. We need to clean up our record. We need to deal with our personal issues. Sure.

All right. And then we need to make ourselves attractive to an employer. And they just, you know, they can't do it by themselves. And then a lot of times they're, you know, all of a sudden then the wife will back away from them. So now they're divorced. And so now they are homeless that, that can create a homeless. I was in a home and kids and all of that.

And because I wasn't dealing with my issues, I become homeless by virtue of divorce. And, and so again, we will, we will help them with, with, with housing. And this is an organization I mentioned last week called NC SIRS run by USO.

And that will help them with just, you know, we are one of the participants in that program with job training, with transportation. So we are happy to do that. And we're happy that there's a female that has just come into this. He's still there.

She's now penguin to us. So that's a good thing. This other gentleman, uh, another success story, um, is, uh, is already hopefully to start his first job in a year on Monday. You can just see his whole transformation department, his whole energy. I can imagine.

And, uh, he pulls weeds harder in our gardens now cause he's excited to do that. So we do a shout out to him and to the gal that's there. They're great success stories, but they just need a hand up, not a handout. They just needed a little lift, a little gap, a little bridge between where there are. They can see it. They want it. They're motivated to do it. Or you just need that hand over to, to bridge that gap to currently in and, and, um, put them back in on their feet, back into society, uh, with some tools now to deal with the things that pulled them down before.

Sure. So Bob, what, how do you, you were talked about battle buddy last week. We know how important that is and just, um, if a person's in there, like for instance, you've got a man and a woman, if I'm hearing you correctly, it's currently there. Do you help align them with somebody as their battle buddy on the civilian side?

That's maybe not in your center. That's people that are volunteering to come alongside of those folks to be with them. How does that work? That's a, that's a great question. The first thing we do is match them up with the people who can make a change in their life. So we'll bring out a VA rep, an employment rep or a volunteer coordinator, uh, over and above that. Then that's where we have monthly meetings. We have a meeting every month for female vets and empowering women who have their own issues. And so in those settings, um, you know, six, eight, 10 of them will come together every month. And out of that, they form social relationships. We do a men's coffee. Uh, again, we'll start this up the first of the year where guys can come out and know every first of the month they can come out.

We also do it again, great outdoor activities that they like to do. And so during they build friendships and we want to go up to the warrior farm. And so those are not only exciting activities for them to do, but the whole design is, hey, exchange emails. We get connected with each other and, uh, you know, make sure that you don't go away without having a friend, um, as part of that weekend or part of that, that breakfast or that coffee. And then we follow up on them.

Obviously when people come in for coffee, we take a roster and, and, uh, you know, we have their contact information and then we can make them aware of other activities we're doing, but we can just do a personal call and a follow-up. Right. How are you doing? I'm doing fine. Well, yeah.

Yeah. But how are you really doing? So one of your men or women come in there, they feel like you've lost all hope, you know, you're the next gateway, if you will, to hopefully the next improvement or the first improvement in their life. How do you incorporate, um, the salvation story, the Bethlehem story as part of that introduction? Yeah, well, when we talk about healing, cause we had mentioned last week, our goal was to honor, heal and hire that heal is, is driven by a personal relationship. And so even in the basic counseling, we're able to incorporate that into our social worker. She says right up, you know, there's hope and that hope is going to come by faith.

And, and, and so we do a conversationally. We bring the people in to mentor them or, or, you know, faith-based veterans that come alongside because they know that's where the healing comes from, is that personal relationship. We're not a church. We're not a denomination. We're not a religion. Uh, but it is all about that personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And he's the ultimate battle buddy.

Absolutely. Well folks, we are getting ready to come up here on break in just a few seconds, but, uh, Bob, we want to thank you so much for being here and folks, if you want to get engaged and involved, reach out to Bob Uber at the Hero Center on Bridges Street in Hotpoint, North Carolina. And we'll give you a little bit more information when we come back from the break. Thank you so much for joining us.

We look forward to joining him in just a few moments. Dr. Jeff Fricke has been caring for patients in High Point for 34 years. Physical therapy, such as ultrasound and spinal decompression for disc conditions, such as herniation, comprehensive care for auto accident injury patients with no out-of-pocket expense. Remember, affordable chiropractic on West Lexington Avenue in High Point.

Call 336-885-1987. Welcome back to Man Talk Radio. And we are in conversation with the founder of the Hero Center, Bob Uber. And before the break, we were talking about this thing about faith and see, man, if you're getting, uh, the, the hiring piece, the healing piece, the honoring piece, you're getting all these pieces here at the Hero Center. And, but the piece that you need above any other is the piece, not P-E-I-C-E, but P-E-A-C-E, the piece of Jesus Christ. And once you have that piece, then you are victorious in whatever it is that you plan to do, because he's the Prince of peace.

He gives us what we need when we need it. So, uh, Bob, we were talking a little bit, uh, during the break and you had mentioned John 10, 10, the thief come to kill, steal and destroy, but I've come that you may have life and to have it more abundantly. So how do you incorporate that into the lives of the men that come to the Hero Center? You know, for a military veteran, it's exciting how much there is about the military in the Bible, how much there is about warfare. Absolutely. And, and clearly there was a war going on for the heart and souls of veterans and men everywhere, you know, and so Satan's goal, uh, you know, is to set up strongholds in your mind, whether it's an addiction, whether it's pornography or drugs or, or fear or doubt or what it may be, uh, is he just wants to siege your mind, just set up, set up a stronghold. And so as you alluded to that verse, uh, it's interesting when I talk to men and I say, you know, we all know the verse of John 10, 10, the abundant lifers, but what does, that's part B, what is part A? And, and, and so they don't know, um, present company included, but okay, Bob, you're, you're visiting, you're not supposed to be busting shops tonight. So it is that the thief has an agenda for your life.

Absolutely. Kill your reputation, kill your hope, steal, steal your joy, steal your peace and destroy, store your reputation, destroy your ministry. It's all about the only has one agenda and you can look at the agenda of the thief. Just look at the newspapers, what kind of news you can see, kill, steal and destroy. That's what he's all about.

That's what he's doing in our cities. And so as we are, you know, battle up, you know, we talk about the whole armor of God, that's all about being in the warfare. And so I'm saying is then if, uh, if, if the key, um, in warfare and to the abundant life, I think is how we are able to successfully engage and neutralize the thief. So if that's the case, then neutralizing the thief, um, what are the weapons that we have? Cause the military is all about weapons. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Well, the individual weapons, some are individual, you know, handguns and rifles are individual weapons and there's things that we can do individually, uh, to keep ourselves strong. But, but most are crew serve weapons. Machine gun takes three minimum, sometimes six people, a mortar. Somebody's got the plate, somebody's got the tripod, somebody's got the tube and somebody's logging the ammunition. So it's a, it's a crew serve kind of a thing. And so that was actually my assigned weapon was the M 60 when I was in my, my unit at the 82nd. Yeah.

In Vietnam, we would finally get so high, we could cook bacon on the barrel. But anyways, back to, so how do we keep the thief from engaging and taking over territory? And I don't think there are the things that you've thought about before you've heard before, but number one is this whole idea of forgiveness. You see what Satan wants to do is take over territory by bitterness and by offense and anger and, and, and kill relationships. And bitterness becomes a friend like better. And it's always agrees with me. Yeah, you're right.

They were wrong. And so same just takes over your whole life if you'll let them, but forgiveness frees them up. You can have access to that territory. If you're already forgiven someone, a father or a mate or a coworker has otherwise hurt you. And, you know, just easier for me to forgive you to do that. Well, the second thing is, uh, as a generosity, you know, generosity, um, freezes from the love of money. It freezes from the materialism, but this freezes to help others. I very interesting statistic on men real quickly is that if, if we say to a hundred men, if they outlawed retirement mother, you could never retire ever till you die.

How many of you would change the horse that you're now riding on? The answer is 62% are really stuffed into a cage, not fulfilling the purpose as a man that God has called them to do. And so what does that do to generosity?

Well, I'm out at 55, you know, I got my formula, so age, so many years I'm out of 55. And so if I give to our mission trip or some teenager wants to, you know, I can't, didn't have to work 54 years, you know? And so I'm frustrated at my job because 62% don't like what they do. And secondly is I'm not generous and I come home without exercising my gifts. Like I'm all frustrated. I don't want to volunteer. I don't want to do anything.

Just get out of my work as quick as I can. God forgive us from not finding that so that we can be generous with our guests and generous with our time. And it goes on and you know, a clear conscience is another one of those. If you can have a clear conscience, then you deny access to Satan. So whether you're in the military or you're not in the military, we do recognize that, that Satan does have his sights locked right on the back of your chest.

And he does want to take you out. And no matter how long you've been in the ministry or how long you serve, even, even as a combat sniper, military guy, you know, you can you can relax, you can put your guard down and not the whole armor on and you can step on a mind or do something. And so that's where again, the battle body comes in. You all need help. You all need to be in a group, whether it's like minded by activity, like minded by profession, you really do need in spite of the virus, find ways to continue to connect with your battle body.

Continue to have somebody that's got you sick, somebody that's going to ask you the hard questions and help you stay on point. Okay, and stay on the track and track and stay on the narrow way that God is laid out for all of us. And to recognize that you can defeat Satan. But these weapons that we talked about, are simply designed to take strongholds down, take territory back, and and and engage the thief into doing that. And, you know, Bob, when you talked about the armor, we only have one offensive weapon.

And that's the word of God. If you look at all of those other pieces of the armor from Ephesians chapter six, it's all about defense, helmet, breastplate, belt, shoes, girding up your loins. These these things are defensive weapons. So if we don't have the word of God within us, then we have no offensive weapons. We are targets, we have the shield of faith. But what are you fighting the enemy with?

Because the enemy, as you as you stated, he wants to kill still, and that's his modus operandi to to steal kill to break you down. So veterans, spouses of veterans, if you're listening right now, or friends of veterans, if you're listening right now, and you want to get involved, you can. And donate, you can donate, donate time, donate money, donate, whatever it is. If you got a car that's laying around, and you know that there's a vet out there who needs a car because he's getting his life together and that car is running. We don't want no junk now. But let God bless you.

Bless you. Donate that car. Come down and talk to Bob.

Come down and talk to Bob at 1500 Bridges Drive in High Point and and work out some details with it. So there's always all kinds of opportunities that you can give and do in order to support the veterans. So Bob, to be clear, you're 501c3?

Yes, we are. Okay, good. So then there you go, folks. It's a tax deduction. It helps you out if it's something sitting around. And if you have a cash donation that you need to make by year-end.

Give them a receipt. Yes, and go to our website. It's the Hero Center, but it's spelled H-E-R-O-E-S. A lot of people forget that. Theherocenter.org and you'll find us there and how to get a hold of us. That's great. Well, Bob, now how long has this been, how long have you had the campus there at John Wesley?

Just over two years. I've had this foundation for non-profit for about nine years, but God just gave us this property two years ago. So we're real excited that we're actually renovating the building to the point we have residents and we have programs. But the other thing is, too, we like to bring out the community. We have a 500-seat auditorium, so we're going to do a lot of unity things for our city, help the city with justice and unity and faith. So we're a center that the city has found, but we're focused primarily on veterans and helping them transition and deal with their issues. And there's another thing that's popped in mind by the way, I think you mentioned earlier, folks would like to use your facility, certainly could come talk to you about that.

Happy to. A very affordable rent to use the facility for a night or for a weekend to put on whatever conference you may have. It'd be a great place.

Plus it would help the veterans because the revenue comes back into the organization and then it helps fund the property for the week and for the month. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, Roy, it's just, I mean, being a veteran myself and just having the opportunity, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to meet Bob and just share with him and to visit the center down there. We've had meetings down there. We're going to have some future meetings down there. So it's a very, very nice setup that Bob has down there for the organizations and for people to come and meet and just share the gospel or share your thoughts. Amen. And special thanks to Jerome, who's a brother of ours in the ministry.

And he's the one that actually introduced us to Bob several weeks back. So we thank you, Jerome, for that. Shout out to you, brother. And for your obedience to God. And no matter what it is, you always follow whatever God's leading you to do, Jerome.

For that, we appreciate it. He's doing that unity event October 3rd. He's going to try and transform our city. Yes, he is, at Love and Faith in the Greensboro campus.

So October 3rd from 9 to 2. Thank you, Bob. So if you'd like to join that, I'm sure Jerome would love to have you, leaders in our community as well as from the churches. Hey, if you're listening to our show and you're not currently a follower of Christ, all you've got to do is admit being a sinner, recognize he rose from the third day. He lives again, sits beside the Father.

Turn from your sins, get in the body of fellowship, and just ask him to be a part of your life and he'll take you from there. And we're here to support you. Visit www.tawcmm.com. We'd love to have your questions and feedback. Join us. Will, thank you. It's been great seeing you. Bob, been great spending time with you.

Thanks so much. God bless. Amen. And we'll see you guys next week.

Ladies, nudge your husbands to get off the sidelines. Absolutely. Thank you so much for being a part of our program. Work it out.

Work it out. As we wrap up today's show, be assured that TAWCMM, Talking and Walking Christian Men's Ministry, is building a community of men that are Christ followers with a desire to be servant leaders in their homes, communities, churches, and work environments. Check out our website for upcoming events and regularly scheduled meetings. Drop us a note for topics that you would like to have us visit in the future. Thank you for joining us on Man Talk today. Visit us at www.tawcmm.com. Men walking the talk. This is the Truth Network.