Update and Request for Help
We received unexpected news this week. The doctors plan to release Matthew from Rusk Rehabilitation Center on June 16th, so Matthew has to come home. Rusk's policy is that a patient must make major progress to continue in their care. Matthew's "baby steps" of progress are not what they consider "major progress".
As you may guess, this has resulted in Erich and Brenda having to scramble to find a way to bring Matthew home MUCH sooner than planned. The rooms in their current house are not large enough to accommodate Matthew's needs, so they have come up with a plan to temporarily move Matthew into his grandparent's basement in Lincoln, Missouri. The basement is at ground level and some modifications will need to take place in order to get Matthew in the house. The first major hurdle will be to pour a concrete driveway up to the house and a concrete slab next to the door for access into the house.
We are appealing to you for help - they will need to purchase or lease a handicapped accessible van right away and those vehicles are very expensive. Please consider contributing what you can to the Matthew Kurz medical fund for this need. You can still contribute to the Thrivent fundraising until May 31st to have your gift matched. Make checks out to "Thrivent" and mail to:
Bob Boone
7220 W. 98th Terrace, Suite 230
Overland Park, KS 66212
As a reminder, after May 31st you can send gifts made out to the "Matthew Kurz Medical Fund" to:
Citizens Farmers Bank
East Main Street
PO Box 219121
Cole Camp, MO 65325
660-668-4416
Physical help is also crucial right now. If you can help in any way with the pouring of concrete and making the Kaiser house accessible for Matthew, PLEASE call Brenda and Rev. Kurz immediately at 660-221-1850. We need your helping hands!
Most importantly, your prayers are requested. This has been a little unsettling for the family and another hurdle to deal with. Please pray that our Lord and Savior gives them the strength and courage to take on one more challenge. And we also pray that God continues to care for Matthew and grants healing and progress. Matthew will be surrounded by all of his family regularly and will be in a familiar place - so maybe this is just want Matthew needs to make continued improvements. Brenda has already visited the rehab center, ResCare, in Sedalia that gives outpatient care and therapy. She's impressed with what she has seen there and she's heard great things from people who have gone to or had family members go to ResCare.
Thank you for the many ways you have supported, helped and cared for the Kurz family. The road is long that they must travel and they continue to need our support, help and care.
Rachel Asburry
Matthew's godmother
As you may guess, this has resulted in Erich and Brenda having to scramble to find a way to bring Matthew home MUCH sooner than planned. The rooms in their current house are not large enough to accommodate Matthew's needs, so they have come up with a plan to temporarily move Matthew into his grandparent's basement in Lincoln, Missouri. The basement is at ground level and some modifications will need to take place in order to get Matthew in the house. The first major hurdle will be to pour a concrete driveway up to the house and a concrete slab next to the door for access into the house.
We are appealing to you for help - they will need to purchase or lease a handicapped accessible van right away and those vehicles are very expensive. Please consider contributing what you can to the Matthew Kurz medical fund for this need. You can still contribute to the Thrivent fundraising until May 31st to have your gift matched. Make checks out to "Thrivent" and mail to:
Bob Boone
7220 W. 98th Terrace, Suite 230
Overland Park, KS 66212
As a reminder, after May 31st you can send gifts made out to the "Matthew Kurz Medical Fund" to:
Citizens Farmers Bank
East Main Street
PO Box 219121
Cole Camp, MO 65325
660-668-4416
Physical help is also crucial right now. If you can help in any way with the pouring of concrete and making the Kaiser house accessible for Matthew, PLEASE call Brenda and Rev. Kurz immediately at 660-221-1850. We need your helping hands!
Most importantly, your prayers are requested. This has been a little unsettling for the family and another hurdle to deal with. Please pray that our Lord and Savior gives them the strength and courage to take on one more challenge. And we also pray that God continues to care for Matthew and grants healing and progress. Matthew will be surrounded by all of his family regularly and will be in a familiar place - so maybe this is just want Matthew needs to make continued improvements. Brenda has already visited the rehab center, ResCare, in Sedalia that gives outpatient care and therapy. She's impressed with what she has seen there and she's heard great things from people who have gone to or had family members go to ResCare.
Thank you for the many ways you have supported, helped and cared for the Kurz family. The road is long that they must travel and they continue to need our support, help and care.
Rachel Asburry
Matthew's godmother
posted by Randy Asburry @ 6:49 AM
8 Comments:
At 6:21 AM,
Anonymous said…
I'm sorry the Kurz's are in such a financial bind, but they must realize that much of this bind is of their own making. If they would have allowed the parsonage to be renovated, the money received from fund raiser and other methods could have been used toward the purchase of a handicap accessible van.
At 2:49 PM,
Anonymous said…
I'm having a hard time understanding the above comment that the current situation is the Kurz's own fault. I remember reading, and went back and found, in the 2/25 note that Rachel Asburry wrote, that Matthew's Doctors advised the family that the parsonage would be too small to accomodate Matthew and his equipment. If anything, the fact that Rusk is releasing him sooner than expected because he is not making enough progress is an indicator that he will need more equiptment and support, not less. It was the Doctors who insisted the Kurz's find a new home, not the Kurz's. Usually, when Doctors make such a strong recommendation, they know what they are talking about. It's too bad that now when the family is under yet more stress, someone chose the attack the family for following the recommendations of the medical team who has come to know Matthew so well over the past months. Let's remember that members of Matthew's care team were at the parsonage last weekend after graduation. If anything, now is NOT the time to critisize the Kurz's decisions, but rather to support them in this unbelievably difficult time as, with God's help, they do their best to make decisions that are best for Matthew.
Joyce Koenig
At 4:26 PM,
Randy Asburry said…
To Mr./Ms. Anonymous who said:
"much of this bind is of their own making" and "if they would have allowed the parsonage to be renovated...":
I am truly sorry that you feel this way about the tragic and unfortunate circumstances in which the Kurzes find themselves. I will pray for you! I will pray that God will bless you and give you a more charitable heart and attitude. I will pray that our gracious God, the Lover of all humankind, will "give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you." May He graciously "take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). I will pray that God will enable you to be a strong advocate and supporter of the Kurz family in their time of need. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10).
To Joyce,
Thank you so much for your wise and compassionate words!
At 3:55 PM,
Anonymous said…
Thank you, Thank you Mr. or Mrs. anonymous! You took the words right out of my mouth. Sorry, Pastor Asburry I guess there's more of us you need to pray for. If he or she has a heart of stone, they must be like me, and it was turned that way because of actions taken by the Kurz's--particularly some of Mrs. Kurz's actions have been down right sinful.
At 7:02 PM,
Anonymous said…
Okay, that is enough stone throwing. I cannot believe that you people call yourselves Christians. How in the name of God can you have such hard hearts. Here is a young man and talented and his future taken from him. We have all said and done things that we shouldn't have and hurt feelings in the process. It is real brave to post an anonymous coment. Don't you realize that Pastor and Brenda read these comments. Do you really intend to be so cruel and hurt their feelings when they are trying to get Matthew home as well as continue his therapy. They are well aware of the rumors and things that are being said. Let us pray that Matthew recovers. Let us pray for forgiveness for ourselves and for them. They need our help and prayers. If you don't want to help or you are angry, for heaven's sake then don't help and stop stirring the pot of hatred,it only makes things worse. "All have fell short of the glory of God"
At 8:22 PM,
Randy Asburry said…
To which ever "Anonymous" said:
"Sorry, Pastor Asburry I guess there's more of us you need to pray for":
Yes, I will pray for you too, that God will bless you and help you, and I will simply trust that God knows which "anonymouses" I'm praying for! :-) As for the sinful actions of Mrs. Kurz, sure, I have no doubt that she sins in all that she does, even as do I, even as every human being does. But that's still no reason to put such unkind comments up for the whole world to see. (Yes, these comments can be seen all over the globe!) What kind of Christian witness is it to anyone when we choose to nip at each others' heels?
Instead, let me recommend a prayer that a dear friend sent to me some time back. It comes from the Church Father St. Ephrem.
O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth,
Faint-heartedness, lust of power and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity,
Humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King!
Grant me to see my own errors
And not to judge my brother;
For Thou art blessed unto the ages of ages! Amen.
At 8:24 PM,
Randy Asburry said…
To which ever "Anonymous" said:
"Sorry, Pastor Asburry I guess there's more of us you need to pray for":
Yes, I will pray for you too, that God will bless you and help you, and I will simply trust that God knows which "anonymouses" I'm praying for! :-) As for the sinful actions of Mrs. Kurz, sure, I have no doubt that she sins in all that she does, even as do I, even as every human being does. But that's still no reason to put such unkind comments up for the whole world to see. (Yes, these comments can be seen all over the globe!) What kind of Christian witness is it to anyone when we choose to nip at each others' heels?
Instead, let me recommend a prayer that a dear friend sent to me some time back. It comes from the Church Father St. Ephrem.
O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth,
Faint-heartedness, lust of power and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity,
Humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King!
Grant me to see my own errors
And not to judge my brother;
For Thou art blessed unto the ages of ages! Amen.
At 9:08 PM,
Randy Asburry said…
Also to any "anonymouses" who are critical of Pastor and/or Mrs. Kurz:
I should have said this before, so I'll mention it now. If you are Christians (as I suspect you are), please remember that it is your Christian duty--given to you by the Savior Himself--to go talk to your brother and/or sister in Christ directly. That way you can discuss any sins that there may be between you, and you can forgive one another and thus glorify God Himself. That is the best way, the way Christ gave us, to deal with sins between people (see Matthew 18), not airing them in a worldwide setting for all to see.
Also, perhaps a few words from Luther would help, from his Large Catechism on the 8th Commandment:
"When you become aware of a sin, simply make your ears a tomb and bury it until you are appointed a judge and authorized to administer punishment by virtue of your office" (LC I:266).
"Let this be your rule, then, that you should not be quick to spread slander and gossip about your neighbor but admonish him privately so that he may amend" (LC I:276).
And what Luther says about the tongue, we can certainly apply to the computer keyboard and comments on a blog site:
"No one shall harm his neighbor, whether friend or foe, with his tongue. No one shall speak evil of him, whether truly or falsely, unless it is done with proper authority or for his improvement. A person should use his tongue to speak only good of everyone, to cover his neighbor's sins and infirmities, to overlook them, and to cloak and veil them with his own honor" (LC I:285).
Post a Comment
<< Home