Looking For Financial Supporters

A few weeks ago I started traveling in ministry and music again with my dear friends, the Walkers. They’ve invited me to travel with them on their tour bus as the crisscross the country singing and celebrating the goodness of Jesus. I am really appreciative that someone in the body of Christ has seen some value in me and given me another chance!

I am prayerfully looking for some financial assistance. While I am traveling with the Walkers I will be responsible for raising my own financial support. I am looking for individuals who can assist in any amount, no matter how small it seems.

Here’s what you can do to help me, if you’re able. You can go to any Wal-Mart and go to the service desk. You can buy a Green Dot Money Pak (most Wal-Marts are now participating in this program).

You pay just $4.64 to have the Green Dot Money Pak loaded with the amount you are contributing to assist me in this situation. You can load any amount between $20 and $500.

Your receipt will print with a 14 digit activation code. All you have to do is then Email me the activation code that printed on your receipt and I can apply the funds directly to my Wal-Mart reloadable Visa (Debit) Card.

My Email address is PastorDaveKurz@Gmail.com.

From the depths of my heart I thank you for considering assisting me in this situation. I will always remember it. I truly will...

Cleaning Out The Pantry

“My shattered dreams and broken heart are mending on a shelf…” Sounds like the start of a sappy love song, doesn’t it? Well, it is! But tonight it’s the line that best represents what I am feeling as I get ready to go to sleep.

Shattered dreams and a broken heart. Have you ever experienced those? I sure have had my share. I’ve dreamed of significance. I’ve dreamed of adventure. I’ve dreamed of fighting the epic fight, living the magnificent saga, and overcoming the mundane to become extraordinary. But life comes at us so very fast and reality sets in even faster. It wasn’t long before those dreams that I dreamed with great excitement were left shattered and broken on the shelf of my life.

And so we settle. Sure, we tell ourselves that we are just going to have to play with the cards that we were dealt. We convince ourselves that the thing to do is to accept that the dreams and fantasies of our childhood are just plain silly. We convince ourselves that we’ve got to grow up and face the fact that life isn’t fair.

We tell ourselves that there is no such thing as a fairy tale or a happily ever after. We tell one another that the best thing to do is to put our best foot forward, live in the now, and (wait for it) be content. But deep down inside we know that something is missing – can’t you feel it now?

It’s amazing how adept we have become at convincing ourselves that settling is somehow a Godly concept. We actually believe that we are doing right by letting our dreams fade, letting our hopes vanish, and allowing our fantasies to become foolish.

And all the while I think the heart of our Father is grieved. I think that if we were to put our ear to the door of the supernatural for a moment we’d hear His voice say, “But I’ve come to give you abundant life…” “I’ve come to give you a future with hope…” “I’ve come to make your dreams come true…”

I am doing my best to encourage myself today in the Lord. And I want to encourage you to do the same. If you have dreams that you have let slip away – I challenge you to close your eyes and dream again. If you have hopes that you have let fade away like the morning mist, then I beg you to get up early tomorrow and catch those hopes again (I promise they’ll be there waiting). If you have a longing, a yearning, a passion, or pursuit burning deep within you I plead with you as a fellow ragamuffin and prodigal to let the fire burn freely. You just might find out (and others may be shocked to see) that your Father won’t put out the fire…

There are those of you who will read these words and life will stir in your breast again. It’s for you that I’ve written this tonight. Let your heart soar again. Let your hope rise again. Let your joy overflow again. Let your life be lived again. Let your dreams loose to become a reality. Find the whimsy. Find your laugh. Let your fantasies and fairy tales free to become in the words of Peter Pan “an awfully big adventure!”

And yes, I’ve also written this for myself. I’m going back into the panty of my past and I am going to pull from the dusty shelf some shattered dreams and a broken heart. And I am going to cry. I’m going to weep for what I’ve lost. I’m going to weep for those who will never walk with me again. I am going to weep for the second chance my Father has given to me. And then I’m going to close my eyes and I am going to dream again. And then I am going to live again and that will be for me an awfully big adventure…

A Story About Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-32, in the Message paraphrase says, “At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?” Jesus replied, “Seven? Hardly! Try seventy times seven!

(Jesus continues) The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

“The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

“The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’

“The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

“The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”

Down For The Count...

“For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again…” That’s what Proverbs 24:16 tells us. But the question that it fails to answer for me today is this: what does a man do when he has been knocked down for the eighth time? What about the eighteenth? What about the eightieth? Let me tell you the good stuff and then I will share with you my troubles for today…

I’m getting ready to launch into a new phase of my journey. I have a chance to spend some time traveling with my good friends, the Walkers, as they travel around the country and minister in music. If it works out, I’m going to be doing some keyboard and vocal work with them and I am really excited to have a chance to be in the presence of the Lord and worshipping in the house of the Lord on an almost daily basis.

I’m a bit nervous. I’m a bit excited. I’m already laughing as I try to once again sleep in a bunk on a tour bus. If you don’t know the story of the last time I did that, Email me and I will tell you! It was hilarious. Fat people don’t fit well into little bitty bunks on tour buses! Trust me!

I’m also just incredibly full of a sense of appreciation that someone is going to let me have another chance. That doesn’t happen too often any more. I can’t count the number of people lining up to help me out – because there is no line and there are no people! So I am blown away that my friend Billy has seen value in me and is offering me a chance to walk with him before our Father.

But I am also a bit sad today. I finally have a wonderful opportunity to contribute again, but the only trouble is, I can’t afford it. You see, I am literally homeless. I am nothing. I have nothing. In order for me to travel with the Walkers, they are going to have to add a trailer to their bus – and I have to pay for it. I found a trailer but it costs $800 bucks. And let’s just say I’m a little short on cash right now (only by about $799).

I keep thinking I have a way to work it out, but those ways keep falling through. It seems as though every time I think someone is going to help me out, they decide they can’t (because apparently I haven’t suffered enough yet and it is far too soon for me to move out of my pit and prison – ironically, if I were truly in a prison I wouldn’t be homeless!).

So here I am. I am really trying to pick myself up like the scripture says. But I am well past being knocked down seven times. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve allowed hope to rise again in my chest only to see another “brother” or “sister” in Christ snuff out the embers.

Someone told me recently that as Christians, we are the only army that kills our wounded. I agree. Sadly, I have to tell you that the only significant emotional and physical support that I have received during the past three to four months has come OUTSIDE of the body of Christ. Wow! What a legacy.

I really am trying not to be bitter. I am trying not to be angry. There are those of you in my circle of influence that see this post today as one more indicator that there is sin in my life because I am showing some real emotion. I’m sorry that my wounds offend you. I am sorry that my scars make you squeamish. I am sorry that my experience makes you wince. I am sorry that my choices make you shake your head in disgust. At least I give you something to compare yourself to when you think of your own righteousness and value (take a look at Luke 18:9-14).

I am pleading with you as the body of Christ to let me heal and let me move on. And I’m ready to make a commitment to the body of Christ: I’ll stop asking you for help. Can you please stop knocking me down? It’s time for you to pick on somebody else – I give up.