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{Heart4Teens.com} *Listen My Son* ______________________________________ If you enjoy this free email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of teenagers everywhere! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, you can join Heart4Teen.com readers around the world by sending a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com or visit: http://www.Heart4Teens.com Visit our inspirational web site to read all the past articles in our archives and view the tons of resources we have there for teens! http://www.Heart4Teens.com/Teen_Stories ____________________________________________ Be sure to check out our other inspirational email list and web site! http://www.HeartTouchers.com To subscribe send a blank email to: HeartTouchers-subscribe@myinjesus.com _________________________________________ Good evening Heart4Teens.com readers! I finally placed some photos up of our brand new baby boy on our website! Visit: http://www.Heart4Teens.com and share in our joy as you meet Chase William Powers... We wanted to say thank you for all your prayers, your encouraging e-mails, and for being a part of our Heart4Teens family. We feel like we have close friends all around the world who have been with us through many exciting times in our life. May all of you know that you are loved and appreciated! From my family to yours, Michael P.S. We have a wonderful story today about a father and a son by my friend Ken Pierpont. I would be very interested in reading your thoughts on his story today, especially if you are a teenager. Send your comments to: Heart4teens@aol.com (or just reply to this email) and I will post some of them in next week's e-mail. Be sure to let me know if I can use your name and email address, otherwise I will just put your first name down after your comments. _________________________________________ Listen My Son By Ken Pierpont I have given my firstborn son thousands of hours of advice about life. I know that a large part of that advice has been about love, marriage and romance. I always told Kyle, "Son, don't worry about beauty. Concentrate on godly character and virtue. Beauty will take care of itself. Pray for a wife that will have godly character and a heart for God. Wait until you meet a woman who is in love with Jesus. You won't marry someone you don't think is beautiful, but you don't want to be blinded by physical attractiveness and overlook what is important. You want to be sure she loves God with all her heart. You want to marry a life-long follower of Jesus Christ." I always told Kyle, "Son, whatever you do keep yourself morally pure. Don't make even little compromises morally because they bring darkness to your soul and confusion to your heart. This is too important an area to allow any confusion to keep you from God's very best. Wait for the one woman you are going to spend your life with and save yourself for her alone." I always told Kyle, "Son, never initiate any romantic relationship without the full enthusiastic blessing of your mom and dad. You want to know that you have God's will before you move ahead in a relationship with a young woman. When the right woman comes into your life six people will agree that it is God's will. You, her, her mom and dad and your mom and dad will all believe that it is God's will for you to marry. There is great safety in that." I always told Kyle, "Son, don't get involved in dating at all. Dating is dangerous. Wait until you are ready for marriage. Apply Matthew 6:33 to your love life. Believe that if you serve the Lord without distraction in your single years and leave the choice of your life partner to God, he will pick a better wife for you than you ever could yourself." I always told Kyle, "Marry someone who believes in homemaking as the Scriptures teach. You want her to be a nurturing mother. You don't want to marry someone who has bought into the world's lie that a woman cannot find fulfillment within the home and with the children." These are just some of the things I told Kyle over and over again while he was growing up. I got a lot of my ideas out of a great book I discovered. It was written for young men. It is an easy read, full of practical instruction. It's is helpful to young women, too and people of all ages can benefit from it, but it is especially aimed at young men. It is full of pithy advice for young men with their lives lying ahead of them like an open road. This is an old book but it is still in print. As a matter of fact it has been translated into hundreds of languages and it is available in thousands of different bindings and typefaces and versions. I'm sure you could pick one up in a garage sale or used book shop or library or on the Internet. I fact you may already have a copy of this perennial best-seller for boys. Almost every home in America has a copy. The book of wisdom for young men is called the Proverbs. Proverbs was written by Solomon to young men. The book is a collection of wise sayings, Spirit-inspired advice for young men. Over and over again the Proverbs reminds young men to listen to the counsel of their father. "My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother." (Proverbs 1:9) I gathered all the wisdom in life I could and gave every bit of it to my son every chance I got. I am an exhorter. In other words, my spiritual gift is to encourage and give practical steps of action. I am spiritually wired to give advice and counsel. As a result my children have listened to me speak for hours and hours as I have tried to help them to understand and embrace the ways of God in every area of their lives. You may wonder if my son listened. He did. Kyle took my advice. He looked for character and virtue over beauty like I told him. He kept himself morally pure. He rejected the practice of dating altogether. He submitted his heart to his parent's counsel and did not move ahead with romance unless he had his parent's full, enthusiastic blessing. He waited for a woman who deeply believed that Titus chapter two is the model for a successful, happy home. Kyle listened to my advice and followed it. It wasn't always easy for him. I know he had his doubts sometimes. We have spent many evenings sitting on the floor of his room talking about the future and praying for God's best and the faith to believe God for his best and the discipline to wait for God's best. And here is the beauty of it. While Kyle was learning to listen to keep his father's commandments and his mother's laws, there was young woman in South Carolina learning the same lessons and trusting the same God. All the time they were "looking on the same moon" even though they had never met. All that changed in September when Kyle moved here to work and study and Christal Smith came here to serve as the Assistant Dean of Women for the Verity Program. All of us noticed Christal's beauty but more than that we appreciated her warm heart for God and her genuine love for others. We could see the beauty of Christ upon her. She had chosen to save herself for the one God would bring into her life. Friday night Kyle took Christal to dinner at a beautiful restaurant overlooking a pond. As the sunset and the stars came out they ate together. Later they went to a favorite spot overlooking the water and Kyle dropped to a knee and asked for Christal's hand in marriage. He had already secured our enthusiastic blessing and permission from her parents. She said yes. Last night when they got back to the Inn Kyle's brothers and sisters and dozen friends greeted them with cheers and insisted on hearing all the details. I was happy among them. One of the things Solomon said in his proverbs is, "a wise son makes a glad father." He was so right. Kenneth L. Pierpont ken@kenpierpont.com Write Ken and let him know your thoughts on his story! _____________ Ken Pierpont is the Director of the Riverfront Character Inn and International Conference Center in Flint, Michgian. He and his wife Lois have four sons and four daughters. Ken has sends the Stonebridge Newsletter, a free weekly electronic newsletter, to almost 5,000 subscribers every Monday morning. You can visit his site http://www.kenpierpont.com or e-mail Ken at ken@kenpierpont.com. _________________________________ Thought For The Day: "It's easy to identify people who can't count to ten. They're in front of you in the supermarket express lane." June Henderson Verse for the Day: "...Be patient with everyone." --1 Thessalonians 5:14 Teen's Thought For The Day: Fads come and go, but character and wisdom go on forever. Parent's Thought For The Day "Dear God, I pray for patience. And I want it right now." Coach's Thought For The Day "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." --Elmer G. Leterman Deep Thought For The Day: "When someone annoys you, it takes 42 muscles to frown, but only 4 muscles to extend your arm and whack them upside the head." __________________________________________ Author MICHAEL T. POWERS www.Heart4Teens.com Contributing Author to Chicken Soup for the Teen's Soul on Love and Friendship and 19 other inspirational books. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 _________________________________________ ALL-STAR Ministry --The Youth Church of Faith Community Church in Janesville, WI If you are in 6-12th grade and live in the southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois area and would like to check us out, we meet every Sunday night from 6:30-8:30 PM at Faith Community Church which is located at 2931 Lucerne Dr. in Janesville, WI. (About 3 blocks south-east of The Skating Place.) Currently we have students from Fort Atkinson, Milton, Janesville Craig, Janesville Parker, Marshall, Orfordville, Clinton, Beloit Memorial, Beloit Turner, South Beloit, and Hononegah. E-mail me back if you have any questions about our weekly meetings or would like to come to any of our events that are listed below... We have way too much fun and then, most importantly, talk about issues that are relevant to you as a teenager. THIS WEEK: All-Stars: Jesus the Revolutionary _______________________________________________ All-Stars has extended its time to 6:00 - 8:30 PM on Sunday nights. 6:00 - 6:30 will be time for the youth to chat and discuss anything they want with the youth leaders or each other. 6:30 - 7:00 PM will be for games or fun activities and then 7:00 - 8:30 PM will be for the lesson and discussion time. Students are still welcome to "hang out" after 8:30 PM if they want, as the leaders are usually at the church until at least 10:00 PM, and some nights even later. (For the past couple of months the students have continually complained that we are running out of time before we get to really discuss the topics in full and asked if we could have longer teaching times... I know, most of you are probably now getting back up off the floor from the shock. have been most encouraged that the teens have been wanting to stay longer to be able to discuss the lessons more fully.) The Outlet: "Get plugged into Jesus Christ!" (Teen Cell Groups) Wednesday night community groups for teens. The groups are limited to no more than ten teens and will be originally split into Jr. High and High School ages. This night is for those teens who want to dig deeper than what we do in All-Stars, but may not be ready to be a part of the Extreme Teens. These cell groups will also be doing special activities with each other as the year goes on to build community. Extreme Teens" (formerly the Core Group) meets from 5:00 - 6:00 PM at the church. This group is very extensive with weekly homework, memorization, service projects, etc. Students interested in this group will have to fill out an application, provide references as to why others think they should be involved with this, and sign an agreement as to what is expected of them. (If your teen will also be attending All-Stars that night, they are encouraged to bring a sack lunch or snack to tide them over until 8:30.) We are very excited at what God is doing with our youth! _______________________________________________ Reading Books, Changing Lives! For those of you who love to read or love to give out books as gifts... You can now order a number of different autographed best-selling inspirational books for the same price you would get them in the store, the shipping to you is paid for, and you are helping change the lives of teenagers and those they come in contact with! And best of all, every penny from the book sales are going to youth ministry! If you love to read inspirational stories, these books are most likely those you will eventually buy anyway. And how cool would it be to be able to buy books like those in the Chicken Soup series for your friends and family with a personalized autographed message by one of the contributing authors! How's that for a unique gift! Not only are you changing lives through supporting a youth ministry, but every book included on our website has the power to make a difference in the lives of those you give the books to. Check out this link to find out more! http://www.HeartTouchers.com/books |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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