Deeper

I met a young lady when I was seventeen.  We hit it off instantly and I knew we would be friends for life.  We always kept in touch.  After her daughter's birth.  After my marriage and kids.  No matter where I went I always knew we would be close.  My wife was jealous of her for a little while, but soon realized that she was only my friend.  Before I got married, she was the ONE person on earth that I could talk with about anything without being judged.  I listened to her go through agony and triumph.  She told me all the intimate details of her world and I always felt closer to her than I did my own sisters.  She told me she had breast cancer and I just knew she would shake it off.  She did.  Was cancer free for about a year.  But the cancer came back with a vengeance.  She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and the average is a 22% chance at survival.  But this was Reba and she would shake it off.  She danced through the chemo and prodding and poking with a smile on her face.  I went to my Pastor to stand in the gap for her.  I prayed for her and another friend of mine, Chris.  She told me soon after that her body was responding positively to the treatments and she was so up and so encouraged!!! Chris recovered completely.  Reba did not. She died yesterday.

It shook me.  I didn't think it would, but it did.  It shook me because of the dreams I had about her.  I dreamt that I laid hands on her and the next time I saw her, she had long beautiful hair and she was happy.  Tuesday night I dreamed that I went to see her and she was near death and everyone had given up on her.  Her mother asked me to help her prepare thank you cards for all the people who came by to see her.  But I prayed for her again and she got up and went to the bathroom and everyone was shocked at her recovery.  She died Wednesday.  I'm having trouble dealing with this because of what the Word of God says. ..."they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."  I expected her to recover.  I expected to have lunch with her next week.  I thought I was hearing from God.  I thought I understood what was to happen here.  Maybe my faith isn't as strong in what I believe as I thought.  I know God is real.  I know Jesus died for my sins and that through his sacrifice I am saved.  But the Bible also says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." and I'm starting to believe that all I don't know about God is becoming a problem for me.  I need to go deeper into God because I'm tired of losing these battles.  And yes, I know that if she wanted to die, there is NO amount of prayers that would keep her from running to Jesus.  I can't blame her.  I want to get to him myself. I will use this to get closer to him.  The pain I'm experiencing now only he can heal.  My friend is at peace now and I can rejoice in that.  But it still hurts.  But God is my healer.  God is my peace.  I seek deeper in God now.  

I let this sit for a while before posting it.  God sent someone (a Pastor) to minister to me that had a similar experience.  It hit him so hard that he quit the ministry for seven years.  So I guess I can admit now that I seriously considered walking away from Gospel music and just playing jazz.  I felt like everything I was doing was a lie.  The Bible says that the kingdom of Heaven is not in word, but in power.  And I didn't have any power.  How could I go on getting up in front of people singing about the love and power of God when I didn't have any???? 
What I have since learned is that I this was a Job experience for me.  I'm not God.  I thought that God  was being unfair or that I was somehow being deceived.  But God's view of life is NOTHING like what I see.  His vision extends beyond anything that I can comprehend at this point in my existence.  Life doesn't operate on my terms and I have to learn to trust God even when I can't see anything but darkness... when I don't understand the soul quaking pain pain or the suffocating fear, I have to trust God.  I have to learn to let go of my humanity, because I'm not simply human anyway.  The children of God are not.  We are spirits encased in flesh.  
I saw a movie a few weeks ago that spoke about how learning the language of an alien race would change our view of life.  And it hit me that the more I learn God's language the more I will see the life like he does.  If I learn to speak and think like God (RENEWING MY MIND) my entire view of everything will change.  So again... I seek deeper in God now.  

Curtis W. Hurley

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Goodnight and other musings...

Okay so I'm up...

I said I would get up and write down the music from now on.  Its a quarter to four and I just finished tapping out another melody that woke me up.  It doesn't matter how much sleep I've had... how tired I am... I wake up to something playing in my spirit.   I hear the harmonies, the bass lines, the voices... I can't make out the words... something about "Paul was his name.." not sure.  But that's how it is with me and music.  Its like I wake up at the tail end of a conversation that people were having in the room unknowing that I was there asleep.  I hear the last thing they said just as I am waking.  What I heard tonight (this morning?) sounded like the end of theme for a TV show or a movie cut.  I dunno.  I'm gonna try to go back to sleep now.  By the way,  please check out the latest release #LoveMakesYouReal.  If you check it out in iTunes, please rate it.  
Also, there's a photo spread and music review in LOV3RZ Magazine pgs 22-23!

God is good!!!  Goodnight you guys!


Curt

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Until He says otherwise.

God is good.  This has been a long journey.  It has taken a lot of turns that I would not have expected, but God is good.  I had a prophetess tell me that I should be an evangelist.  That this is my true calling.  I receive that... I just don't know what to do with that.  Music plays in my spirit constantly.  I wake up every morning with a new melody playing.  I don't always put them down (I will change that now), but they are always there. I see images in the music I hear.  I see the videos of the songs I write in my head.  Music moves me.  Music shapes me.  My mother told me its been that way since I was in my crib.  Music was the only thing that kept me quiet, so she kept the radio on my crib.  If I heard a song I didn't like I would knock the radio off.  And then cry for her to put it back.  God did this.  I was born with this.  The thought of me standing in front of a church preaching doesn't appeal to me.  Don't get me wrong, I will speak a word that God lays on me.  I have and will always do that.  I can't NOT say what he places in my spirit.  I imagine my head would explode if I tried to hold that in.  If that's what she meant, I'm all in. That's just what I am.  Regardless, I submit myself to be whatever God wants me to be.  I'm his child and he knows what's best for me.  As much hell as has surrounded me all of my life, I haven't been touched by any of it.  I grew up in chaos, but my life wasn't chaotic.  It was like my life was a hurricane, but I've spent my whole existence living in the eye - watching in horror as everything around me spun, crashed and burned.  But I just witnessed it.  I just sat there with Jesus as the demons of hell would continually growl and hiss at me.  But they couldn't touch me.  I occasionally strayed and got bitten by one or more of them, but they couldn't devour me.  I'm still here.  I'm still giving God the glory!  God is Good!  I had a Pastor who didn't like me personally, but couldn't deny the anointing on my gift.  The Bible says your gift will make room for you - Prov.18:16 "A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men." And the gift that God has given me is making room for me.  But not because of me... because God has a mission... a plan?

What is the proper word...  God has an objective in moving me from Glory to Glory.  He KNOWS I will tell the WORLD it was HIM.  I bore with people calling me a genius.  I HONESTLY am only trying to replay what I hear in my spirit.  And sometimes I don't even get close!  What I heard and what I played are similar, but no where near as majestic as it could be if I were a better musician.  And maybe that's the point... God has to be doing this because I don't have the skill.  I can play.  And what usually happens is I learn to play what God gave me and people think I'm some master. Its all God.  I'm spending most of the time trying to keep up.  All I can say is God is Good!  He gave me a song a while ago.  The first effort was awful.  I got with a friend that I often work with and God blew the track up.  The piece was "Love Makes You Real" It was recently reviewed by @LOV3RZ Worldwide magazine  and they absolutely loved the track.  Again... God doing his thing. 

So here we go again.  This journey will continue as long God wants.  I will do what God wants.  I will go where God wants.  My objective now is to be what he wants me to be.  Musician, Evangelist... I really don't care.  I guess that since he's placed music in my very cells and it seems to be growing my children as well - I will keep doing what I'm doing until he says otherwise.  God bless you all.  Thank you for sticking with me on this journey.  I'll send you videos and pics from the road.

Curt

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We have Lift Off.

What's up all!!!

Seems like we're starting all of these blogs off the same way "Okay its been a while..." but I have been busy doing productive stuff.  God is changing me.  That's what I've noticed most.  The word of God has become more precious to me.  I need it more every day.  If I don't read, I notice that my life goes into a tail spin.  My thoughts go haywire.  My spirit feels polluted.  Its that word in me that chases away the crap that I'm bombarded with.  When I take God's word into my spirit, I can think clearly.  Temptations don't have the same effect on me.  They come but they don't overcome.  Its become more important that my necessary food!  (Like Job says) I like this change in me.  I'm learning to depend on God more and more.  That takes more pressure off of me.  I don't have to fight... God's got it.  I do have my part.  My part is doing what he tells me.  When I do that I soar.  We have Lift off!

We hooked up with the crew from Extreme Tour and made some wonderful contacts there.  Home for a little bit, but will be taking off in November for a short hop through Jamaica!  Which is going to be an absolute BLAST!  I'm not sure where we head from there.  I anticipate heading over to the UK for the rest of the fall. If that happens, I will definitely let you know.  I'll make sure you guys has plenty of video to feast on!!!

I have a new song called "Good for Me" that I will probably debut in Jamaica. It just seems like the perfect place to drop a song like this.  I LOVE the song, its just a vibe that people should use their words to propel themselves forward.  The Bible says we "have the power of life and death in our tongues..." and we should use that power.  Okay, now praise report!!! We released the "Love Makes You Real" track last month.  At present its only on internet radio, but that will change SHORTLY!!! It debuted last week at #151 on DRT (digital radio tracker) top 200 in the nation.  It debut at #24 on DRT's indie top 100.  It is climbing FAST so you should be hearing on your local radio station soon.  We haven't shot the real video yet, but here's a Lyric Video for you to check out until we do.  I am estimating that it will be shot in the next 15 days.  If you are in Charlotte, PLEASE come by getcho cameo on as we will need a LOT of people to pull this on off. I have this vision of a large group people in circles within circles within circles all rotating in different directions.  I need a big crew to pull this off.  So if you're in the city PLEASE come by and bring yo' cousins with you.  It will probably take us two hours to set up and shoot the scene.

I've been producing music for other artists.  I just finished a track for Pastor Melvin Moore called Focus.  GREAT man of God with a GREAT choir supporting him.  It was truly a pleasure to work with him.  Okay... its late.  I will write more tomorrow.  For now, please check out the Lyric Video and tell me what you think.  If you like it, PLEASE share it!  When we shoot the real video, PLEASE come by if you're in Charlotte!!!! This feels so different now.  I feel like I could fly!  We have LIFT OFF!


Oh yeah, here's the link for the single if you'd like to grab it!  If you like it, Please tell somebody!!!
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/curtiswaynehurley

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Overwhelmed sometimes.

Trying to be better at keeping you guys in the loop at what's going on.  I wrote a song a little while ago that didn't feel complete to me.  My vocal performance on it was terrible and it just bothered the heck outta me.  So I got with a talented pianist that I've written amazing stuff with before and made another attempt that the piece.  We changed the key, wrote a bridge and a vamp and the song took on new life.  Now it seems that this may be the hit we've been looking for to launch all the other good stuff that I have.  It looks like God has set me up to explode now.  The song is called "Love Makes You Real" and I am so excited about where this has the potential to go. Everywhere I do this song, people are overwhelmed. With all the craziness going on in the world right now this song seems so timely.  Love is the only thing that save us.  The song's lyrics talk about how love makes us real. Since the Bible tells us that God IS love, God is the only thing that makes us real.

I get lost in the love of God sometimes.  It amazes me that he would imprison himself in flesh just to save me. He allowed himself to be tortured beyond anything any human being has experienced before or since - just to save me.  He experienced overwhelming fear, so much so that he sweated blood, but he did it anyway - just to save me.  And according to the Bible, he still bears those wounds - nail holes in his hands and feet, a spear in his side. Humiliated by the children he loved.  Hated by the children he loved - just to save me.  And the Bible says he endured the cross with joy???  Wow.  He took the power of death, hell and the grave.  And now gives me the power to become one of the sons of God, to be children of light.  Ephesians 5:8 says "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light..." The amplified Bible says this means that we should walk as children of light - walk as if we had NEVER sinned. By just believing on the sacrifice of Jesus, God looks at me like I have NEVER committed a sin. Purified to perfection by the blood of Jesus.  That's the love of God.  That's the power of the blood of Jesus.  Like I said, I'm overwhelmed sometimes. This is the start of the fire.  Thank you guys for hanging with me on this journey.  Its been a long one, but I believe we are ready to launch now.  God is good!

Check out the lyric video #LoveMakesYouReal Video

Here's the Acoustic version of the song Acoustic Version of the Song

Curt

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I love the giver!

Soooo.... I know, I know its been a while and I always say that I will keep up with this blog and I always get side tracked.  Well... I'm in a hotel and I got time on my hands so I will attempt to update you all.
We did a lousy job marketing the "Resist" project.  Shame on us.  It has great songs on it that very few people have heard and that's a tragedy.  So we're pulling it from the online stores ASAP.  We are starting with a fresh approach.  We will release one song and market it until it catches fire.  Then we will release the rest of the project.  That makes sense.  Anyhoo... the new song is a beautiful ballad called "Love Makes You Real"  I anticipate this being a BIG song.  If you'd like a sneak peek, we uploaded an acoustic version of it on reverbnation.  Check it out:

https://www.reverbnation.com/curtiswaynehurley/song/26167089-love-makes-you-real-acoustic

I'm so excited about the possibility that this song presents.  I'm overwhelmed with what I feel when I listen to it myself.  But do listen for yourself.  If it moves you, please let ya boy know.

We are still preparing to do X-fest and the Extreme Tour.  When those materialize, that will mean the rest of the year on the road.  But it won't be like I originally envisioned.  We will do the usual promo stuff, hit the radio stations and do the shows.  But after that... we will hit the streets and minister to and love on people.  I'll use the music and the public appearances to draw attention to my work, and then use that to draw all attention to God.  People will be accustomed to seeing my face and they will be willing to listen to a "celebrity".  And I will take that opportunity to tell people about God and Jesus and his Love.  I love the music.  Its a gift from God.  But I love the giver much more than I love the Gift.  Stay Prayed Up!

Curt

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This Man's Journey...: My music and My Life

This Man's Journey...: My music and My Life: What's good family! Just got back from Nashville.  I attended the "Objective Weekend",  the four day selection process for t...

My music and My Life

What's good family!

Just got back from Nashville.  I attended the "Objective Weekend",  the four day selection process for the Extreme Tour.  It was four days of intense sessions covering many topics.  Speaker after speaker pouring out their hearts to us about music and music ministry and the music biz and the true ministry.  It was all kind of numbing at first.  Line upon line. Precept upon precept.  But then a speaker got up and shared about personal struggles.  Here was a man being groomed to be a Pastor and his personal struggles caused him to walk away from it all.  Those personal struggles nearly cost him his marriage, his family... everything.  Watching his passionate transparency struck something in me and I decided to seek him out to speak to him one on one.  I approached a man who I thought was him and bared my soul.  He said, "I'm not the one who shared that testimony, but I'm the guy who can help you..."  He then pulled me aside and set me on a path to fight my challenges and to show others how to fight.  One of the main things he said was that I needed an accountability team. 2-3 people who can pointedly and directly ask me anything and I would answer... honestly.  I'm a solo artist.  That means I don't step outside of myself to allow people to see much of anything. I don't create with a band that I have to be "naked emotionally" with in order to accomplish musical goals.  Its just me.  I create and then call in others to help me complete the project.  And now all of a sudden I have to have a team of people that I can't hide from.  I find it intrusive, but freeing at the same time.  I can fight now.  No, not drinking, not on drugs or the down-low or cheating on the wife or anything crazy.  But I have my thorns and I shared that with him.  I didn't want my meteoric rise to match an equally horrific fall.  I told him that terrified me.   He reminded me of who I was.  I'm a child of God.  I'm a new creation and God has my back.  It was odd that I wanted to share with one person about my life - and the one person who had my solution showed up.
The other thing that I learned was that I've been around the music "businessmen"so much over the last three years - that I allowed it to warp what I knew was real.  I kept hearing the refrain "If it don't make dollars, it don't make sense" bouncing around in my skull.  Yes, I KNOW that the work has to be done.  Yes I know I must present that work well in order to make sales that I can feed my family with.  But what's real is that it isn't as important about having a marketable product.. its MORE important that your "product" draws others to Christ.  I'm a warrior... here to make more warriors.  My music is made to build up the army of God.  As I listened to it with different ears this time, I hear that.  I hear it building up people.  I hear it giving strength to others.  Its got a little funk to it.  Its got a little hip-hop to it.  Its got a little jazz to it.  But most of all its got the word of God through every song.  The Objective this weekend opened some doors in my heart.  I'm so different now I really can't explain it.  My life is to SHOW God's love, that's all.  I do that with my music and my life.

Curt

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In Due Time

Be in prayer for me.  I'm working to put the new project together.  Its still NOT the live recording, I'm sorry.  We have a new single called "Love Makes You Real" that is making a lot of noise everywhere I go.  The plan is now to pull the current CD from the market and then repackage the best songs on it with the three new pieces that I have now.  God will do great things with this, I'm sure.  But what I need your prayers about is a possible upcoming tour.  Five months on the road covering about twenty countries.  I know, this is what I've been dying to do all of my life.  My hesitation only arises out of a sincere desire to only do God's will - not just chase my dreams.  I want to do this with everything in me.  Its only five months - not one of those two year tours that would keep me away from my family 'til my boys didn't recognize me anymore.  It seems the perfect little opportunity to chase my dreams before my children get to that desperation phase.  But pray that I'm hearing clearly from God and NOT being blinded by my own desires.  My desire is to truly be obedient to God - and if he says no, I will stay my happy butt right here.  Its been my life-long desire to do a world tour.  And if this is God, I'm going IN with a vengeance to proclaim his message and his love to the world.  If this is NOT God, I am smart enough to know that it would only hurt me.  So yes, be in prayer for me.
Love Makes You Real is such a beautiful song.  I hear it sometimes and I wonder why I have it.  People can't believe that it was written by little old me... sometimes I can't either.  It came from God and songs like that amaze me.  I'm excited for the world to hear it.  But all will come in due time.  This I know

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