Blog Archives - TheNewU

CLEANSE OURSELVES

6/29/2020

June 29, 2020 CLEANSE OURSELVES
2 Timothy 2:20-21 “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but of wood and earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the M aster, prepared for every good work.”
Some have the view and the belief that ‘it is all up to God,’ and have more or less neglected the fact that believers have a responsibility to fulfill when it comes to our spiritual health and living out the gospel. Misunderstanding grace can lead one to such a belief. I have even heard it said that “It does not matter what we do because we are under the grace of God.” That perception is contrary to God’s word and it opens the door to choices that are detrimental to our well-being. Don’t misunderstand; if it was not for the grace of God, we would be lost, without hope, and we would not be forgiven of our sins. It is by God’s grace that we are able to act on and follow the teachings and the commands we find in God’s word. As I have often said, we must work with God as He works in us, and we must ‘work out’ our salvation. As you read 2 Timothy, and many other scriptures, you will discover what we are to cleanse ourselves of; we are to cleanse ourselves of any thoughts, actions and beliefs that are contrary to the ways of God. It is critical for us to know that we have the power-because of the grace of God and His presence in us-to cleanse ourselves. It sounds rather simple, but it is freeing and awesome to know that we can stop doing whatever we need to stop doing and we can start doing what we should be doing. The motive for cleansing ourselves is that we now belong to Him, have been joined to Him, and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Also, if we know experientially the love God has for us, it is only natural to want to do the things that please Him. We can make the choice to walk by the Spirit and as we do, we will not fulfill the desires of the the flesh-the things we need to cleanse ourselves from. Some excuse wrong actions and thoughts by claiming that ‘that is just the way they are’ or that ‘we all sin, therefore, it’s not a big deal.’ The good news is that in Christ, we are overcomers, we are new creations, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. Cleansing ourselves is a continual action on our part; we daily put off the old man and put on the new man we are in Christ; we lay aside anything that is not pleasing to the Lord.
2 Corinthians 7:1 “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Hebrews 12:1b “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Blessings, Buddy

June 26th, 2020

6/26/2020

June 26, 2020 THAT WE MIGHT BE FILLED
Colossians 1:9-12 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
There are times when we read a certain scriptures, we may feel that what we read is just too good to be true. Such it is with the verses above. The message of the gospel is radical. If and when we find ourselves living a ‘ho-hum’ life, a life void of passion and pure excitement and joy, something is missing. I understand that life has its routines and every day is not a mountain-top experience, but even in the routines of life, even in the difficult times, God wants us to experience His power, His joy, and His wisdom. Perhaps our demise, or the thing that causes us to not experience all that God has for us is that we lose sight of, or not even know that we have been joined to God; being joined to Him means that we get to share His life. Another potential stumbling block for us is that we get focused on this temporal life and we form our views and allow our emotions and thoughts, the tone of our lives, to be determined by what goes on around us-the ways of the world. The prayer Paul prayed above for the believers in Colossae is also a prayer for us, and what an awesome prayer it is; the same heart God had for the early believers is the same heart He has for us today. It is possible, and it is God’s will that we “be filled with the knowledge in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” We do not have to live not knowing-not knowing God and His power and wisdom; and we do not have to be de-motivated by questions and doubts about life and why things happen as they do. We may not fully understand everything in the natural or physical realm, but we can be filled with knowledge in spiritual wisdom, and we can have understanding in the spiritual-it is difficult or impossible to explain this, but it can nonetheless be experienced. When we are filled in this manner, then “we can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work.” Also, our knowledge of God can be increasing, and we can be strengthened with all power; we do not have to live in spiritual weakness and with a lack of zeal. We can attain to “all steadfastness and patience”-we do not have to be impatient and we can be steadfast-not driven about with circumstances, not wavering. As we experience these realities and these truths, we will be filled with joy and we will give thanks to our Father who makes all these things possible. It is good news indeed that we do not have to live according to the standards and the ways of the world; we have been made new and we can now live life as an overcomer and experience the life of God. I pray that we do not just read these and other scriptures just as good ideas and suggestions, but we allow the words we read to penetrate the core of our being, to see that they are life and they are for us personally-they are not just theory, and they are not out of our reach; they are the doorways that lead to life.
1 John 5:12 “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Blessings,
Buddy

BEHOLD

6/21/2020

June 21, 2020 BEHOLD
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded that, one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Behold: “to perceive through sight or apprehension: see, to gaze upon: observe it was a pleasure.” Webster. The truth presented in this section of scripture is certainly something that we should ‘behold.’ There are times when I find myself just reading scripture, but not really beholding or contemplating what I am reading. May we not let the familiarity with the scriptures cause us to miss the impact and application of the truth of the scriptures. In the scriptures above, we discover a truth that is vital for us to behold or comprehend if we are going to live the life that God has made available to us; if we miss this point, we miss a central truth of the New Testament. A cornerstone of the scriptures is that Christ died for all; He died a cruel physical death for you and me. Not only did He die for each of us, He rose again on our behalf; death and the tomb could not contain Him. All of the scriptures, the gospel, and our faith as believers, hinges on the resurrection of Christ from the dead. His resurrection has mammoth implications: it validates the word of God; it conquerors Satan and death; it does away with the old and ushers in the new; and it is the basis on which our sins or forgiven-and so much more. Because He died and rose again on our behalf, even though we still live in a physical body, we are to no longer live for ourselves but we are to live for Him. In a very real sense, because He died to save us, we now belong to Him, not to ourselves. This is the real issue for each of us; this is the ‘fork in the road;’ we either take the road of living for ourselves, or we take the road of living for Him. Perhaps the point of the scriptures that is most often missed, or not embraced is that we-our old self-has died, and we were buried with Christ and we were raised with Him as a new person. As I often say in these blogs, God did not refurbish us, but made us new creations. It is amazing that Paul said that we are to recognize no man according to the flesh; we are now spiritual beings and we should now appraise all things and recognize others according to the Spirit. We live in a physical body and we have to deal with this physical world, but all we do should be motivated by and guided by the new person we are. When we live according to our flesh, our old self, we will experience conflict, strife, and unfullfilment. As believers, we must know that the choice is ours; we can deny our flesh, and we can choose to live according to the Spirit-according to the new person we are. As the old-timers use to say, can we get this awesome truth ‘into our thick sculls’-really our spirit. Once the fact that we have died and have been made new and that we are not our own becomes real in our spirit, our life takes on a whole new purpose with new appetites, new desires, new responses, new thought processes, and a new hope. Let the love of Christ control us and let always be beholding the truth of the scriptures and the new things that have come to us.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image as from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
Blessings,
Buddy

WE MIGHT KNOW HIM

6/18/2020

June 18, 2020 WE MIGHT KNOW
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thought with spiritual words. But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
When I carefully read these verses, I am forced to ask myself if I am living by human reason and thought, or by the Spirit of God. There is a tremendous difference. It is my suspicion that many believers, without realizing it, are living out of human logic, traditions, and pre-conceived ideas and beliefs-basically on auto pilot. It’s possible that the only difference between some professing believers and those who are not believers is that the believers may be church-goers and may live by some moral code, trying to do the things that believers are supposed to do. I know this line of thought may sound judgmental, but it is not, because I realize that many are simply living out the gospel they have been exposed to for many years-a sub-standard gospel. With all of this being said, let’s look at the awesome truths presented in these verses. We can hear something so often that we come to a place where we no longer hear, and such can be the case here. Can we hear afresh that we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God? It is a fantastic miracle that we have received the Spirit who is from God! Think about it. How can receiving the Spirit of God not have a drastic impact on us; His Spirit does not improve us or refurbish us, but makes us new. Human wisdom is not the Spirit of God. One primary function and purpose of the Spirt is that we might know the things freely given to us by God. Having been given the Spirit who is from God changes everything. God has freely given us many things, including forgiveness from all sin, a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, an inheritance that will not fade away, righteousness, a hope for now and for the future, has made a member of His family, has transferred us form darkness to light, spiritual gifts with which we bless other members of the body, wisdom that is from Him, and the opportunity to be about expressing the life of Jesus in us-the list could go on. We can now have spiritual thought and can express those thoughts with spiritual words. We must grasp anew that we are in His kingdom, and His kingdom is more real than this world’s kingdom that we see with our eyes. Because we are the reciepients of the Spirit of God, we think differently, we respond differently, we have new desires, we see the world around us through the eyes of God, and we know that real life flows from God. Of course, this all hinges on us learning of Him and discovering our new identity we have as His followers. As alluded to above, sad to say, we have been exposed to a sub-standard gospel (that’s another whole story) and it has had detrimental effect on many believers as it has resulted in not knowing and not experiencing our newness as a way of life. Paul is very clear, we have received the Spirit that is from God, and His Spirit has made us new, the old has passed away. Let us not debate, but let us receive what God has done and what God has given to those know Him.
Ephesians 1:18-19b “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
Blessings,
Buddy

EVEN THOUGH

6/15/2020

June 15, 2020 EVEN THOUGH
Job 13:15a “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him;”
1 Peter 4:12 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you;”
Many have the misconception that when one gives their life to Jesus, when they trust Him as Savior, all will be well and they will be exempt from trials and difficulties. The trouble with this concept, in addition to not being true, is that it sets one up for disappointment and discouragement when the trials come. Even for the one who understands that being a Christian does not make them immune from difficulties, they can nonetheless become discouraged when the trials come-unless they know what Job and Paul knew. There are countless believers who have resigned themselves to the side-line of life because of disappointment with God, with others, and with unmet expectations. Also, prayers that are not answered in a way that one expected and hoped they would be can also lead to discouragement and can even cause one to give up on prayer. So, what are the real issues that causes some believers to become discouraged, defeated, and resigned to life on the side line? Before we try to find some answers to that question, let me say that it is not wrong to have questions regarding how and why things happen as they do and it is ok to pour out our emotions and thoughts to God and to be honest with Him about what is going on within us. If our trust in God and our responses or based on circumstances, then we are for sure in for discouragement, doubt, and defeat. If our faith, if our trust in God, is based on a firm belief that God is a good God, regardless of circumstances and regardless of whether or not we understand, then we will not be defeated when adverse circumstances come. It may sound over-simplified, but the real issue is knowing God for who He says He is-not who we think He is; man can have misconceptions of God. God gave us His word, Jesus demonstrated what God is like, and God gave us the Holy Spirit in order that we may know Him. If we underestimate the absolute need to read and study God’s word in order to know Him for who He is, we will experience defeat. Coming to know God is not a one-time experience but is a process-we come to know Him more and more. If you read the scriptures, you soon see that many believers, believers who we consider spiritual giants, endured much suffering and conflict, yet their faith in God never failed. Let us not bring about troubles by our own wrong doing and bad decisions, but let us accept the trials that will come our way, knowing that God has allowed the trials and that He will give us strength to endure and that He will use it for our good. (He can even use the trials that we bring upon ourselves-we have all made bad decisions.) Here is the all-important question for us: is the greatest desire of our heart for things to always go well with us, or is it to know God? As we come to know God, and as our knowledge of Him increases, trials and difficulties will not derail us. In the midst of the storm, there is peace, comfort, and even a joy that comes from the presence of God.
Psalm 57:7 “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.”
James 1:2-3, 1:12 “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
Blessings,
Buddy

A SNAPSHOT

6/12/2020

June 12, 2020 A SNAPSHOT
Today, let us take a look at some scriptures out of 1 Thessalonians 5 and Colossians 3 and 4, and get a partial snapshot of what the life of a believer looks like when lived according to God’s plans. The life portrayed here is not a ‘pipe dream,’ or out of our reach, but is available to each of us who know Him. This is in no way a total view or description of the Christian life, but hopefully it will whet our appetite to discover more about who we are and our true identity. So, here goes……….
From Thessalonians: We are not in darkness-we are sons of light and sons of day. God has destined us to obtain salvation through Jesus. We are called to encourage one another, and build one another up; appreciate those who diligent labor among us, and have charge over us in the Lord and give us instruction; to live in peace with one another; to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men; not to repay evil with evil, but always seek what is good for the other; to rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks for this is the will of God for us; do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances; hold fast to that what is good; abstain from every form of evil. From Colossians: Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is. Set our mind on the things above, not on things that are on the earth. We have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is our life and we will be revealed with Him in glory. Consider the members of our earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed. But now, put aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from our mouth. Put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created our new self. Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another, and forgiving one another, just as the Lord has forgiven us. Put on love. Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. Be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within us, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another. Whatever we do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Whatever we do, do our work heartily as for the Lord rather than for man, knowing that from the Lord we will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom we serve. Conduct ourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let our speech always be with grace, seasoned as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person. We could go on and on trying to paint a view of this wonderful new identity, of the new person we are because of our being in Christ, but until the truth of who we are in Him becomes real in our spirit, we will never experience life as depicted in the New Testament. We hear it so often that perhaps it fails to impact us, but the life God has made available to His followers is abundant life-life to the fullest. This abundant life is not something we can attain to by our best effort and by our sincerity and devotion; this abundant life is found only in knowing and believing that God has made us new, that our old self has been crucified with Christ, and that God has given us a new heart, a new mind and a new spirit; that we have been made new-not refurbished! The life we see depicted in the scriptures becomes reality as a result of who we are as sons and daughters of God. There is no pressure in living the life God has for us; when we know who we are, it becomes only natural to live according to our new nature-and that is good news! This truth sets us free.
John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Blessings,
Buddy

FORGIVENESS

6/9/2020

June 9, 2020 FORGIVENESS
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be like wool.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remember your sins no more.”
Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
Two things for sure: we are guilty of sinning against God, and God forgives. Sin always breaks fellowship with those we sin against and with God, and has a detrimental effect on us as well. There is nothing good about sin and un-forgiveness; it destroys, it robs us of joy, it wrecks relationships, it leads to loss and ruin, it defiles, and it burdens us with a fouled conscience. One of the cornerstones of the gospel and the primary reasons for Jesus coming and dying was that we might be forgiven and restored to our Father. In God’s grace and mercy, He chooses to remember our sins no more! We may remember our sins-but God does not! The remembrance of our sins can cause us grief unless the thought of past sins causes us to admit that we did sin, BUT God has forgiven us. Often, it is our pride that causes us to have difficulty in acknowledging the fact that we have sinned. God has forgiven us, but we also must forgive ourselves; not only must we forgive ourselves, we must be quick to forgive others when they have sinned against us. Forgiveness is the doorway to freedom-freedom from past sins, freedom to accept others, and freedom to enjoy a relationship with our heavenly Father where sin is no issue. Not to forgive ourselves and others is contrary to the teachings of Christ; it destroys and leads us into spiritual bondage. Hebrews 12:15 tells us “See to it that no one come short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” I have heard others say that ‘forgiving others is so hard to do.’ Once we receive the grace of God and when we experience the love that God has poured into our hearts, rather than forgiveness being hard to do, it becomes a part of who we are as children of God. Forgiveness for ourselves and others opens to door to restoration with others and with God. Forgiveness is not based on our emotions or feelings; to forgive is a choice we make, and we forgive because God has forgiven us. Our enemy desires for us to be unforgiving people as that furthers his purposes by causing division among the body of Christ and hinders our fellowship with our Father.
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others of their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Psalm 86:51 “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call upon You.”
Psalm 32:51 “Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And You forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Blessings,
Buddy

BEING DEVOTED

6/6/2020

June 6, 2020 BEING DEVOTED
2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
Colossians 3:1-2 “If you then have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth.” Life has a tendency to become complicated, and at times confusing and difficult unless one knows as well as walks in his or her true identity in Christ. We must realize that even as believers, we can be deceived by the ‘craftiness of the serpent,’ that is, Satan. The antidote, or the thing that prevents us from being deceived is “simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” I love the word ‘simplicity’ in the verse above; knowing God and walking in His ways is not complicated-and for that I am grateful. The word ‘purity’ is another great word; in Christ there is no guile, and no deception, or falsehood. We are all devoted to something or someone, but being devoted to Christ is what makes the lasting difference in life. Being devoted to Christ means that our actions, our thoughts, and our beliefs are all filtered through the teachings of Christ and the truth of scriptures and the examples of Christ while He lived on earth. Being devoted to Christ means that when faced with a situation where one course of action is not in keeping with the ways of Christ, we reject that option and choose the way that is pleasing to Him and the way that honors Him. We are devoted to whatever or whoever captures our heart. With that being true, we must guard our hearts from anything or anyone that is contrary to the ways of God. The commands and the teachings of Christ are not burdensome but are the way to life, and they are not difficult to understand or to embrace as a way of life. We must know in our heart that Jesus came and gave His life for us, that He has joined us to Himself, that He is personal, that He is our Father, and that He desires for us to enjoy fellowship with Him. We must know that He lives in us and is always drawing us to Himself and is always desiring that we experience the fullness of life in Him. Simply said, let us be devoted to Christ in simplicity and purity. If we are devoted to anything or anyone else, then we have been deceived. Our actions, our attitudes, our responses, and our thoughts reveal what or who we are devoted to. May we take the time and ask God to help us examine our hearts and determine where our devotion lies. Only by being devoted to Christ, will we experience life as God designed.
1 Kings 8:61 “Let your heart be therefore wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, at this day.”
Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Luke 10:27 “And He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Blessings,
Buddy

EMBRACING CHANGE

6/3/2020

June 3, 2020 EMBRACING CHANGE
2 Corinthians 16-18 “but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
I Thessalonians 3:12 “and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;
2 Peter 3:18a “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
There is a tendency for us to live on a plateau, or to live on auto-pilot, accepting life as it comes. This plateau I am referring to is primarily a spiritual plateau that includes how we view the world and those around us and our normal response to the things that happen on a daily basis. I suppose that we are drawn to plateau living because it is the way of least resistance and we likely have a basic perception that change is difficult. However, growth and change go hand-in-hand with the being children of God and maturing in the faith. Just to get us started, and just to make a point, let me ask a couple questions. If married, do you love your spouse more than you did a year ago? Do you love those around you more than you once did? Are your responses to situations and other people becoming more Christ-like? These questions are not to condemn us, but intended to cause us to examine and evaluate ourselves to see if there is room for growth-to see if we are being transformed. As discussed in my last blog, we are made up of three parts; spirit, soul and body, and we are responsible for the health of the three parts of our being. Do not misunderstand; God does the transforming, but we are called to work with Him as He works in us; we have a part to play in the process. We can with human effort achieve some change, but to be transformed at our core requires the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. The most important factor in our part in being transformed and experiencing change, is to have a heart that desires to know God. The obvious truth that we must not overlook is that we come to know God through learning from His word with the help of the Holy Spirit. The catalyst for growth and change is knowing our identity as children of God, and walking in that identity; we must know and believe that we are who He says we are. Because we have been made new creations and have been given a new nature, a new spirit, and a new mind, makes it possible for us to live in such a way that is in keeping with our new identity and is pleasing to the Lord. We can express the love of God to those around us; we can be an encouragement to others; we can help and bless, forgive, be tenderhearted, compassionate, and etc. Let us lay aside that part of us that resist change, and that part of us that is not like Christ and let us with joy embrace the change that comes as a result of knowing God-no matter our age or circumstances, and may we be alert to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He is in the process of transforming us.
Romans 12:21 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test approve what God’s will is-His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Blessings,
Buddy