Skip to main content
#
HeartTouchers.com
Touching Lives Across the Globe -- One E-mail at a Time!
Archives
Hope and Encouragement For Teenagers!
Author Michael T. Powers
Author Kristi Powers
Inspired Audio
Creation News
The Most Touching, Heartfelt Gift You Can Give -- Guaranteed!
Give the Gift of Inspiration to Others... And Yourself!
Christian Nation?
Inspirational books for sale!
Heroes Among Us
Even writers need inspiration!
HeartTouchers.com readers share their hearts on this fateful day
Interviews with some of the best writers on the Internet!
HeartTouchers.com Writer's Guidelines
Ways to Help You Honor your Pastors
State Champions
IwoJima
Life Purpose
Site Map
E-Mail Help

Check out our Creation News Section!
Weekly articles, daily Q & A, and a Creation Comic!

http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=5822763&s=98471192

If you enjoy this email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration to the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join the thousands of world-wide readers by visiting: http://www.HeartTouchers.com

Be sure to check out our inspirational site just for teenagers!

http://www.Heart4Teens.com/Heart4Teens

______________________________________

http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=5822766&s=98471192


Looking for a great gift?

Michael's book Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter," is available BarnesandNoble.com or at Amazon.com at this link: HeartTouchers Book on Amazon  Price is only $10.92 for a limited time! (regulary $14.95!) If you do order the book, would you consider giving it an honest review on Amazon when you are done reading it? 

______________________________________


You can visit Michael's Author page on Facebook at:
______________________________________


You can follow Michael's new found love for nature photography at:

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelTPowersPhotography/
______________________________________
Good morning world-wide HeartTouchers.com readers!

As some of you know, I get the opportunity to speak around the world on the subject of Creation/Evolution.

The DVD's from my latest Creation Seminar are finally done! If you have ever been interested in what the Bible says about Dinosaurs, the age of the earth, the different so called "races" of people, etc., we wanted to let you know that you can have over 6 hours of apologetic teaching from a recent Creation Seminar I taught at. Lots and lots of visuals for those of you who are visual learners!

Cost is just $30 for all eight sessions on DVD. (I can get them to you as computer video files too!)

We had a lot of initial orders but made an extra 50 sets for those of you who didn't pre-order. Just let me know!

Would be great to go through this material with your family, your small group, as a class at your church or for a Christmas gift to someone who might be interested in it!  Send me an email if you are interested or visit: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelTPowers/posts/10157091307197558

 
______________________________________
The Loss of a Trusted Friend

By Michael T. Powers

It is hard to express the pain of losing one's favorite tea mug. A mug that has stood by my side for at least a decade. Always faithful, always ready to carry that precious amber liquid that brings me health and comfort on a daily basis. No matter how much pressure it was under, no matter how hot things got, it never let me down.

Yesterday, I let my mug down. I had just made a delicious batch of my special tea. (It involves three different kinds of tea, raw honey from Liz Vaenoski’s bees south of Clinton, a half a lime and half a lemon squeezed into it, a dash of turmeric and cinnamon to go along with the final ingredient: fresh ginger root.) I was heading out to my truck to go to Release Time in Clinton and I put my mug on the back of the truck while I put some stuff in the back seat.

That's when it happened. I forgot my trusty mug was sitting precariously on the edge of my truck and I started to back out of my driveway. I am sure now that it was calling to me, but in my hurry, I did not hear it's cries of fear!

I backed out, put it in drive and drove away from my house. Only a few yards down the road, I realized that my mug was not in the cup holder! In a split second I realized what I had done and I frantically looked in the rear view mirror.

In horror, I saw my mug laying on the pavement. There was now a car behind me, so I quickly pulled around the block and came back out onto my street. My nerves were on edge as a car in front me drove straight towards my mug! With a sigh of relief I saw the responsible driver straddle the mug with his car.

But my sigh of relief turned into a sob as I pulled up to my house and saw my mug's lifeblood leaking out onto the pavement. A car had callously run over it while I was circling the block...

My mug's head was crushed and so was my heart. His life force was gone...

I walked up to my trusty friend and I just stared at it. I couldn't believe what had happened. Why?! Why did this have to happen to me?!

I documented the scene of the crime, put his limp body on my porch and I went to fulfill my obligation to the students at Clinton High School.

What may have hurt almost as much as losing my trusted friend was that none of my boys would come to the curbside memorial service that I tried to have for it when I got home. I asked them nicely. I begged them to be there for their father in his hour of need.

I started with my youngest. "Chase, would you come out to the curb for just a few minutes?"

"Dad, this isn't about your mug is it?"

"It might be."

He kept saying things like, "Dad, are you serious? It is just a mug!"

Just a mug... JUST A MUG! He knows better than to say that to me. He knows that my mug and I were inseparable. How could I have failed my boys in not teaching them to have empathy for the older generation!?

Then I went to Connor. The son who wants to be a senior pastor. The one who will have to comfort people and entire families in their grief sometime in the future. I poked my head into his room.

"Connor, would you come outside with me for a few moments?"

"Dad, I am not going outside with you to have a memorial service for your tea mug."

"But Connor, you don't understand..."

"Dad, you are a child."

No Connor, you are my child and you should be there for your elderly parent in his time of need."

He just kept laughing and shaking his head. I tried to say something else but he pointed at the door and said, “GET OOOOOUUTTTTT” I knew he wasn’t being disrespectful… he was just quoting from one of his favorite social media videos.

I then went to my first-born son. The one who has my name sake. Caleb Michael Powers. I asked him if he would be willing to come outside and have a few moments of silence with me around my make-shift memorial.

“You have got to be kidding Dad! I love you but I am not going to go to the memorial service for your tea mug.”

“Please Caleb? You know how much this means to me.”

My son then grabs his phone and starts to record me all the while narrating to his friends about what his dad was trying to get him to do.

I think he shared it on his snap face or chat book. I couldn’t believe that the fruit of my loins was mocking his dad on social media.

I hung my head in sorrow and slowly walked up stairs. I had gathered some sticks from my backyard and made a cross memorial that I tied together with string. I made the solemn walk out to the curb and tried to stick the cross in the ground as near to the spot of the accident as I could.

The ground was frozen. I had to go back in and get a knife to cut through the frozen tundra to allow my memorial marker to stand tall and strong. I planted it into the cold, unfeeling ground and I just stood there…all alone. I paid my respects and then went back into the house.

At my darkest hour, two young ladies who are like daughters to me came through for me. Maddie Ginter responded to Caleb’s mockery of me on snap face. She said, “Caleb you have to understand how hard this is for your dad. Let him go through the grieving process. It is OK for him to have a memorial. Tell him I stand with him in solidarity, but that I will not be attending, mostly because I am home right now and I want to STAY home. But please just let your father grieve.”

Then about an hour later, there was a knock at my door. It was Miki Ginter. When Caleb’s video was making the rounds on snap book, she was in the library at her college studying. It is finals week. She has a ton of exams to study for, but she left the library immediately to help her aging youth pastor in his time of sorrow. She slowly walked downstairs to where I was expressing my grief by writing this true account on my computer. She had genuine concern in her eyes. She gave me a very big hug and two very thoughtful and caring things for my memorial. (You can see them in the last photos.)

Here was someone who understood. She has probably consumed more of this special tea than anyone not named Michael T. Powers!

Finally I had children who cared. Two precious “daughters” who earned the right to be in our family because there is some kind of squatter’s law that says they eventually can own our house if they spend thousands of hours in it during a calendar year.

When I informed my family that I was thinking of taking his remains up north and burying it at my favorite camp site the next time we went camping, my wife said, “There is no way we are keeping that broken mug until the summer. It has to be so full of germs after all these years. You need to get rid of that thing!”

Sigh…

You may think this is all way over the top. You would be wrong. My tea mug was like family to me. For at least ten years of my life this mug has stood by me and fit perfectly in my hand. Who knows, those germs may have even kept me healthy by building up my immune system all those years!

And so here ends my time of trial. I knew this day was coming. I knew he wouldn’t last forever. I have tried to find another tea mug just like it over the years, but to no avail. The brand name has been worn off for so long there is no hope for me to be able to find the exact mug again.

Thank you Tea Mug. Thank you for the amazing beverages you brought to my mouth over the years. You will be sorely missed.

Michael “Tea” Powers

To see the photos I took, that go along with this story visit:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/MichaelTPowersPhotography/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1603089693170090

Michael T. Powers
HeartTouchers@aol.com

Write Michael and let him know your thoughts on this story!

Michael T. Powers, the youth minister at Faith Community Church in Janesville, Wisconsin is also the founder of HeartTouchers.com, a popular website with over 8.7 million visitors in the last seven years. He is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Kristi, and the proud father of three young boys.


He is also an author with stories in 32 inspirational books including many in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and his own entitled: Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter." To preview his book or to join the thousands of world-wide readers on his inspirational e-mail list, visit: http://www.HeartTouchers.com

Follow his Nature Photography page at:
https://www.facebook.com/MichaelTPowersPhotography/

______________________________________



Creation Q & A

Q: Some people try to discredit Genesis by saying snakes don't eat dust, as Genesis 3:14 claims. So is the Bible in error?

A: Although we don't know for sure that the serpent referred to in Genesis 1 really was the same as a snake, we do know that snakes do eat dust! After the serpent deceived Eve, God cursed it, saying, "On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life."  And since most people don't realize that many snakes eat dust, they use this as a reason not to take Genesis literally. See, a snake has an organ in the roof of its mouth called "Jacobson's organ" that helps the snake smell. Here's how it works: with its darting, forked tongue, the snake picks up bits of dust and pulls them into its mouth. Once the dust is inside the mouth, a pair of sensory organs takes over and the snake is able to smell the trail for possible prey. The point is, no matter what the serpent was, nothing contradicts the Bible's clear statements in Genesis.

For an in-depth look at the serpent and its true identity, visit: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v13/i4/serpent.asp

Source: AnswersinGenesis.org

  

http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=2996858&s=98380460
 


Creation News

Click on the Bible above or visit the web site listed below!

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/Creation_News

This new addition to our web site will give you an article on the leading news in the
Creation/Evolution controversy each day. This section also includes a rotating
Question and Answer feature and a weekly Creation Comic strip from the people
at AnswersInGenesis.org. Be sure to come back and visit each day for an informative
article that will help you keep up to date on the latest news in this controversial area


___________________________________________ 

Thought For The Day:

"How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened." --Thomas Jefferson


Verse for the Day:

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life." --Matthew 6:27


Kid's Thought For The Day:

"Dream."


Parent's Thought For The Day

"The main reason kids eat supper is to get dessert. But the better the dessert is, the less supper they eat."-- Bruce Lansky


Coach's Thought For The Day

"Confidence is the invisible cement that binds a team together." --Bud Wilkinson


Writer's Thought For The Day:

"Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this as a consolation in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do." --William Zinsser


Deep Thought For The Day:

"The laziest man I ever met put popcorn in his pancakes so they would turn over by themselves." -- W.C. Fields


______________________________________

http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=3373439&s=98471187

Over 500,000 people have listened to popular Chicken Soup Author Michael T. Powers' free inspirational message entitled: "Breathing Life into Others". If you aren't one of them just visit: http://www.HeartTouchers.com and click on the link to listen to the free streaming audio message.

______________________________________
                               

http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=5822772&s=98471192

 Inspired Audio -- Inspirational Audio Message of the Week!
                                

Inspired Audio is a brand new offshoot of HeartTouchers.com. Every week we will offer a different audio message that you can listen to right on your computer as you are surfing the net or just getting things done around the house. Be sure to come back and visit each week!

This Week: "Godly Leaders Revere the Word of God"

https://faithcommunity.sermon.net/main/main/20937463

______________________________________





http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=5822776&s=98471192


Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business

http:www.VideoImagery.net

Dear Michael,

"I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the beautiful video you made for me! It was so special to see both of my parents in tears as they watched their children grow up in pictures before their eyes! I loved the way you made Estania's part set aside from the rest--that was the part that really got them! The music was beautiful. My mom kept blubbering, "What song is that?" I don't know how you did such a beautiful job with the video in such a short time. I really appreciate your doing it so quickly. You have a wonderful gift, and I thank God that you are using it to create such sentimental memories. I hope that I can find my niche like that in an area that I love. Your video gave us one of our most lasting Christmas memories! I hope yours was filled with moments to be treasured forever!"

Love,
Trisha
Silverhill, AL

Let me make you a video from your photos! Check out my video production business by visiting:

http://www.VideoImagery.net

Transfer your photographs or old home videos over to DVD or MP4 files! Give the gift that will touch your family's heart and soul.

You can join the 15,000 followers on his Facebook Nature Photography by clicking on the link above!

Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time!
Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
Site Powered By
    BizStudio Site Manager
    Online web site design