Nicaragua Update

     Well the time is drawing closer when Lisa and I will have the opportunity to take the boys on a missions trip, just about 4 weeks now. We are getting excited as the time gets closer and as we start to make our final preparations for our time there. VBS and craft planning are in the works, and final fund raising is happening. We have been very blessed with people who have helped to support us financially and through prayer for this trip, and although we are still about $1,500 short of our goal, and am so thankful for the $4,500 that God's people have so generously given to us. Large gifts, small gifts and everything in between, it has been neat to watch God provide.

     Lisa has started some small fund raisers that the boys have been able to get involved with, so they can have a part in raising support for their time there as well. Just a few nights ago, they were busy in the kitchen making brownies and cookies for a bake sale, so they all got a little flour on their clothes. Tyler took it upon himself to make labels for the packages of baked goods. He spent almost two hours playing with ideas on the computer, and the final result was pretty amazing if I do say so myself. It was completely his design and I'm pretty proud of him for it.

     We still appreciate you keeping us in prayer as the clock ticks down and while we are there also. I think the boys are really going to enjoy their time with our sponsor child and visa-a-versa. I am excited for Lisa to meet him and his parents, and to begin building that relationship with them.

     We are still trying to close the gap on the final $1500 for the trip, so if God's prompts you to help support us in this mission, we won't turn you down. :-) Blessings to you and thank you for following us as we hopefully change lives and have ours changed as in the process.

The Kuntz's

Extremes

Today was a bit unique for several reasons. First we had the rest of the group with us today. They arrived late last night no worse for the wear, but ready for some food and a good night's sleep. This morning started with a good breakfast and then it was off to the camel ranch just up the road in the desert. (Since Eilat is in the desert I can say that.) :-)

We spent some time riding camels and hanging out in some shade enjoying the local cooking, then we headed for the water. While some just enjoyed the water, others snorkeled and the rest of the gang that has been here since the beginning of the week headed out for our last two dives while here. AS always it was a great time diving, the fish, the coral, the water was beautiful. Hardly a wind today so the waves were minimal as we dived in the Coral Reserve Park. So desert camel riding in the morning and SCUBA diving in the Red Sea in the afternoon, pretty much opposite ends of the spectrum.

Tomorrow we head to Jordan to visit Petra. I'm looking forward to it.
Peace!

Standing on the Cherbourg

Today was a fun day diving, not that the others haven't been mind you. But today, I did a ship wreck dive. We started off the coast right in front of our hotel and swam to a depth of 18 meters or 60 feet. There was deep blue water with lots of fish and then all of the sudden appearing out of the deep blue was a French missile boat called the Cherbourg that had been sunk by the Israelis for a ship wreck dive.

SO COOL!!! I can't describe what it felt like to hover weightlessly over this hunk of metal that once spent it's life on the surface of the water. Most of the cargo doors had been removed so you could see into the cargo holds where fish had taken up residence. Where men once maned their stations, Huge blue angel fish and groupers now held down the fort from inside. The tower  you see in the picture to the left was still there and the seats on top of the captains bridge were still there just waiting to be sat in.

I peered in the square holes that were once the windows to the bridge only to see a huge blue angel fish as acting captain of the sunken vessel. The dive continued as we looked all over the vessel, just soaking in the experience. We continued on to see more very colorful fish, mating octopus, and a large school of Trumpet fish. It was a wonderful experience, and i'm so glad I took the advice to get certified for this trip.

Tonight the rest of group arrives after a very long almost 18 hours of travel to get here. After a good night's rest, they too will be able to experience some of the beauty of the Red Sea. 

More to come!

Israel 2012

Well yesterday, I arrived in Israel for the second time. Lisa and I came here in March of 2011 and I have been lucky enough to travel to this amazing place for a second time to do some videography for the church.

One twist I added this time around was I began training to become a certified SCUBA diver so that I could dive in the Red Sea while here for the first few days. What an amazing thing to do. The water is crystal clear and the fish and sea life are amazing things to look at. To look at the surface of the water is to look at the ceiling of a whole other world.


We did two dives today and I am up for two more tomorrow, then I will be certified to dive anywhere to a certain depth. Hopefully the pictures I attach will come through, if not I will try to post them again when I get a better signal.


 In between dives, while rehydrating and grabbing a quick snack, I realized I was standing 100 yards from the border of Egypt, so I asked Denny to snap a picture of me. Normally I wouldn't pose in a wet suit, but hey when in Eilat....:-)

Tomorrow we I go to Timna Park just north of Eilat to do some video taping in the desert at the life sized Tabernacle, then back to the water for the afternoon to finish off the training.

I will try to keep posting here to the blog as we make our way through the Holy Land with pics and info.

SHALOM!

Time Away

      This past week, I spent 4 days in Florida with a bunch of worship leaders from the denomination. I was looking forward to spending time with like minded guys and finding time for quiet renewal while there. I found both during my time there. Although at times I felt as though I wasn't talented enough to be a part of the group, I also remembered that God has equipped me with certain gifts and talents that are unique to me and how I use them. It was inspiring to be around such talent and to see that talent used and crafted as we spent time in the recording studio of Holly Hill UB Church writing a song together.

     The premise of the song is this. We serve a MIGHTY King. A God who is worthy of our praise and a God that is so very powerful that at his word the stars and universe came into existence. I stood at the edge of the ocean many times that week and marveled at the fact that God gave the ocean limits and told it where to stop. I stood there watching the waves with mighty power and force come crashing up on the sand only to hit that barrier of God's limits, and then slowly retreat back to where they came from. Over and over again, I saw this evidence of God's power and strength. We are Sons of a Mighty God, we are heirs with Christ and I am excited about being able to sing about it.

     Our time together ended with communion, although not of the normal flow. We each took time serving the person to our right, speaking truth into their lives, speaking blessings over their ministry and then giving the elements. As we went around the circle, it was a blessing to hear the prayers and truth being spoken. We concluded down on the beach, praying and singing together enjoying God's creation as we felt the surf in the air and watched a lightening storm out at sea, yet another powerful reminder of our powerful Creator!

I will leave you with this:

"The Power of God"

Like a monument they stand

The cloudy sky, the mountain land.

The very fact that they exist

Declares that all the earth is His.

And so the voice of lightening speaks

His mighty power with every streak

While thunder echoes through the hills

In pure obedience to His will.

For who dares turn against the face

Of one who's hung the stars in place

Or who can stand against the might

Of one who's voice created light,

Who separated land and sea, 

By simply willing it to be...

(N. Gonzalez, 2011)

My ONE

Have you ever had times in life where you just feel befuddled and confused about your role in life? I have felt this way for the past few weeks. Attribute it to my school load, work load, big trips coming up, busy life, lack of good sleep, what have you...


I can say for sure that I don't like it. I'm the kinda guy that likes to know what is happening in life. I try to approach things in life with a game plan and have things under control to a certain extent, in that I can manage what is happening around me, at least where I am concerned. However, there are those times, I think, that life just seem to get away from you and leaves you choking in it's dust. 


I'm not the kind of person that likes to struggle with things either. I expect of myself, to be able to get the job done and done quickly. I expect to be able to accomplish what I set out to do and then move on. I have proven to myself that when I put my mind to it, the task at hand can be achieved. HOWEVER; there are those times that I am proven wrong........(go figure right?)



One of the things I struggle is this, when I put my mind to it, I can do just about anything I want. It's a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because, over the past 15 plus years I have been serving in ministry, I have had the opportunity to do so many different things like; lead worship, play an instrument in the band, teach classes, serve on boards and committees, preach and deliver God's word. Counsel people, serve on missions trips, create and direct plays and dramas, art of various forms for the church, lead and develop tech teams, church plants....the list goes on and on. Because of this wide variety of experience, I can often get confused with what I am best gifted at and suited for. Herein lies my problem, I often refer to myself as a jack of all trades and a master of none....however as a friend recently said, I need to be a jack of all trades and a master of ONE! I agree 100%. That's why I went back to school. My question over the past week has been, what's my ONE?




I often question if I am doing exactly what God has gifted me to do. I ask this question of myself a lot because I always seem to have this feeling that God is preparing me for something bigger around the corner. Truth be told, I guess as a Christian we should feel that way right? As we grow, as we mature in the Word, we should be challenged on a continual basis to be living more and more for Christ.



Over the past week, I have done a lot of soul searching, asking myself what I'm passionate about, how am I naturally gifted and how does that work with my spiritual gifts...It has been a pretty enlightening week, and has helped me get my mind wrapped around what I think God has laid on my heart. 


(Spoiler Alert) I'm not going to write it down here, because I am still sorting through a few last details, but I can tell you this. It feels good when you begin to understand how God has wired you and what kind of areas of ministry you might best fit. 


I think it would be safe to say, and we could all agree, we are created unique. Each of us is different, with different personalities, different skill sets, different passions and gifts. I would hope that we could all agree that each of us was created for something specific. Ephesians 2:20 "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (NIV) 


I think the hard part is understanding how we are wired, what are our passions and gifts and natural talents? When we take time to sit down, organize and answer those questions, I think, at least for me, things become much more clear. I  have a much better understanding of what my strengths and passions are, and that helps me get a better understanding of how God wired me uniquely. God calls us to be good stewards of what we have been given. I think that feeling I have had for so many years is maybe that nagging question.....Am I doing my best with what God has given me?


What about you? How has God wired you to serve Him? What are your gifts and passions? What are your strengths? And most importantly........What are you doing with them?


I would encourage you to take some time and ask yourself some of these questions. Make sure your are being a good steward of what God has entrusted you with.

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I have posted on much, let alone our progress on the Nicaragua trip so I thought I would try to catch up. God is still working as people continue to show their support for our trip. It is neat to see what God can do through humble and willing servants of his throne. Since we began with letters telling everyone of our plan to take the family to Nicaragua this August, God, through His people, has blessed us with over $4,100 and we continue to get letters telling us that people are praying and want to support us. 



We recently took the boys to apply for their passports and just received them in the mail a week or so ago. As I put them away in the safe, I realized that God is working in our families life in ways that we don't know yet. As I stuck the little blue books in their place, for me it reminded me once again that Lisa and I have an amazing opportunity to show the boys what it is like to be the hands and feet of God in a tangible way. 









A smile comes to my face as I think about the day Lisa and the boys will meet our sponsor child. I can't wait for them to see his smile and be able to give him a hug and tell him that we are praying for him, and that we want him to know Jesus like we do. It blows my mind to think that God has given my family the chance to change lives in another country as well as here.


Here in a few short weeks, we will be joining many others for the Great American Clean-up here in town. It will give our family a chance to not only help clean up our city and make it a nicer place to live, it will give an opportunity to explain to them the kinds of things we will be doing in Nicaragua, although nothing will compare to the feeling of bringing hope and love to a community of people that need lots of it.


Please continue to keep our family in your prayers and thoughts as August draws near. It seems as though a lot has to happen between now and then, but God is BIG and God is GOOD, and I believe when He calls He also provides.