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{Straight From the Heart} *Life Stories* 1/26/01
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Straight From the Heart
http://www.storiesfrommyheart.com
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For those of you who know and love Trisha (Lippincott) LaCoste, she and her
husband Anthony are finally proud parents! I was blessed by God to be able to
coach Trisha in basketball, and Kristi and I grew to love her dearly! She has since
moved to Alabama where she met Anthony, her adoring husband. Here are the details about their new gift:
Name: Hunter Anthony LaCoste
Weight: 7 lbs. 13 oz.
Length: 21 1/2 in.
Date of Birth: 1-20-01 (at 12:10 p.m.)
Trisha is so excited and we know that Hunter and her future
children are incredibly blessed to have her as a mommy!
Here is the email I received from her. If this doesn't make you smile, nothing will!
From: ajlacoste@gulftel.com (Trisha LaCoste)
Dear Michael,
I can't believe I'm actually a mom! I don't think it has sunk in yet. I had a
wonderful labor and delivery. I stayed home for most of the labor because I knew
I'd relax more at home. We went to the hospital at 10:15 on Saturday morning,
and Hunter was born at 12:10. I think a lot of the reason it went so well was
because I had a midwife deliver him. She was so awesome. She was with me
the whole time, helping me relax and encouraging me. It wasn't like a doctor
running in the last two minutes to catch the baby. It was such an awesome
experience. I'm ALMOST ready to do it again. (I need a LITTLE time to recover.)
It's such a great feeling to know that now I'm officially a housewife and mother.
I'm so excited about starting my new career! Anyway, I just wanted to let you
know how everything went. Talk to you later!
Trisha
Will you join with me and wish and Trisha and Anthony congratulations on their new bundle of joy? Their email address is: ajlacoste@gulftel.com
and their website, which has photos of little Hunter is at:
http://ajlacoste.homestead.com/homelife.html
Trisha, few young ladies have touched our lives like you have, and we give thanks to
the Lord for you, Anthony, and your new gift from God!
Michael
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We have another new writer to SFTH today. Be sure and let Cary know
what you thought of his story today!
Michael
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Life Stories
By Cary Branscum
People tell me their life stories. They always have. That's not brag.
In fact, it's not even anything to brag about. It just happens --
people tell me their life stories. I don't know why, it's always been
true. As a child, adults would unload their life stories on me. I guess
my ears were so big, they seemed my most useful feature.
Would you like to overhear a few of those stories? I have a million of
them. I'll share a few.
He was 87, with a felt hat pulled low, a jaw of Redman tobacco, and an
old willow cane. His face was lined like an Arkansas roadmap, and his
beard was a white stubble. He lived in a little old house in Perry,
Oklahoma, and was glad to be there. I was distributing church
bulletins, and he yelled at me to come sit a while. He'd been in a
nursing home so bad it was nicknamed the Devil's Den. People lay in
their own filth. People got hurt. He clucked and laughed, and said
Perry, Oklahoma is paradise compared to the Devil's Den.
She was a single mom, twenty-three years old, with an angelic four year
old daughter. I was on the midnight Greyhound bus to Fort Worth, with a
stop in Dallas. They lost my luggage that trip, an old leather suitcase
with a bungee cord around it. Two empty seats in the whole bus, one by
me, one behind me. I offered to move, she said no, her daughter could
sit in the seat behind me, she needed someone to talk to. A story of
abuse, of running away, of living on the bus for nearly a week going
from coast to coast. I listened, gave her a little money, watched her
daughter as she slept. I looked out the window at the lights going by
in the cold North Texas night. I'd be home soon and rejoin the warmth
of my little family. "She may never make it home!" I remember thinking
to myself.
I'm sitting in a sunlit room in a mansion in one of the biggest cities
in Texas. "I'm dying, Cary, and I don't know if God is going to do
anything about it." Thirty years old, three precious little children, a
Christian husband, both wealthy, from wealthy families. They live in a
mansion. He's a deacon, she leads Bible studies every week. She is
absolutely gorgeous. He's handsome. At first glance, they're Ken and
Barbie -- not a care in the world and have it all?
But she is diagnosed with cancer -- terminal status almost guaranteed.
"I'm not scared of dying, I'm scared of not being there with my kids...
of someone else getting to see them grow up. You know what? My faith in
God is stronger than ever."
I stare at her, then look down at the sunbeams
playing on the beautiful oak floor of her sickroom. Nothing to say.
Jesus came to help the lame walk, the blind to see, the dumb to speak.
This time, Jesus struck the speaker dumb. I had nothing to say in the
presence of such faith.
"I slept on the railroad tracks on Christmas Eve, hoping a train would
hit me. I couldn't even do that right!" I was twenty-two, a new
minister. He was about fifty, and life had given him a lot of trouble.
We were in Beverly's coffee shop in Oklahoma City. The place smelled
like cigarettes and fried eggs ... oh, and of course coffee. He was
going through a divorce, a job loss, and his alcoholism was raging. "I
went looking for my grown son, got lost, my car broke down, and I just
laid on the train tracks, drunk, hoping to die. Can you give me a
reason to live?". I stared at my young reflection in the coffee cup,
and took a deep breath. Good thing I was twenty-two and knew
everything.
He came in the church building, needing a little gas to get to Florida
where the jobs were. Another scam? I don't think so. He reiterated
their story, a common one. They had a half-promise of a job in Florida.
They were trying to get there, get a job, start a new life, asking for
help along the way. We headed to a gas station, and I waited inside the
station while he pumped some gas. The car was old, and four really
dirty little kids were bouncing around the back seat. His little wife
stood next to him as they pumped gas. Fort Worth is a long way from
Florida. My eyes bulged as I look at the front of the car. The front tire is a TEMPORARY SPARE TIRE, one of those little ones that fit
in your trunk. They were going to drive on that to Florida. They
wouldn't make it out of town with that. How would they make it? As I
watched, the wife smiled at her husband, he smiled back. I could read
the words she mouthed under the poor, broke, sweltering, hot tarmac gas
station Fort Worth summer sun...I love you. No money, they were rich.
You want to know the truth? I LOVE to listen to life stories. People
talk to me because I listen. There's no magic in me; the magic is in
the power of listening. You can listen too. You can be a story
listener, a memory keeper, a walking vessel of remembrance of all the
lives you've touched, of all the lives that have touched you. Let your
heart be open to Jesus and His Story. It's also my story, and your
story too. Let your heart be open to others. It's a little bit of
heaven on earth to hear and be heard.
Tell me your life story. I LOVE to listen. You story matters to me
because you matter to God.
Listen to someone else's life story and safeguard someone's
significance.
Cary Branscum
cary@westover.org
Send Cary an email and let him know what you thought of his story!
(c) 2000 Cary Branscum
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Cary is the singles minister for the Westover Hills church of Christ. Cary has worked with single adults for the past eleven years, first in Fort Worth Texas, and now in Austin. He is married and has four children. He graduated from Oklahoma Christian University in 1974, and has done youth, education, and family ministry since 1975. In addition, Cary enjoys reading, writing, and listening to music.
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REQUESTS:
From: GRANDMAWRK@aol.com (Wilma)
Dear Friends and family,
I have two very special requests for you... The doctors have said they have done all they can do for my brother-in-law Pete. (He has lung cancer.) I spent Monday night and all day Tuesday with my sister so that she could get some much needed rest.
Hospice met with us yesterday and by the afternoon had brought a hospital bed, wheelchair and other equipment Pete will need into their home. This is a wonderful group. Loving, kind, compassionate and so very helpful. Jan has focused on Pete for two years now, and these last few weeks and months have drained her. I ask that you will remember her as well as Pete that the Lord will hold both of them in His loving arms and that He will give them the rest, wisdom and strength they need at this time. Sometimes she gets an hours sleep all night long.
Also, My son was admitted to the hospital for tests. He woke up with one of his eyes matted and his face swollen. The doctor gave him a shot and medicine and told him to contact him if the swelling spread. He began to run a fever and the swelling moved to his neck and his face swelled twice the size. They sent him to the hospital for fear it would move to his chest. They still are not sure what it is. There is a question weather it is something called 'Cellulitis,(not sure of the spelling) a bacteria infection,' or it could be an abscessed tooth which has caused the problem. He was released to visit the dentist for x-rays. He is not a good patient, and is worrying about having to get back to work!
I will answer what mail I can, but please hold off on any 'forwards.' I'll try to answer personal mail in the next days. Taking one day at a time.
Sharing His love,
Wilma
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From: FURFACE48@aol.com (Jim)
Hello to all,
I have another prayer request for another family member, My niece who lives in Ky. Her father in law Ed Harris Sr. is, dying of cancer and not expected to make it through the weekend. If you wish to send a note of sympathy to the family please send it to Bedroomblue1016@aol.com. I'm sure he would love to know there are others who care for and pray for his father and family in times like these. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for you concerns.
Jim
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Thought For The Day:
"Our talks are often in first drafts--lots of corrections necessary!"
Verse for the Day:
"For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." --James 3:2
Kid's Thought For The Day:
"Even if you've been fishing for 3 hours and haven't gotten anything except
poison ivy and a sunburn, you're still better off than the worm."
Parent's Thought For The Day:
"You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes." --Walter Schirra Sr.
Coach's Thought For The Day:
"I know that I'm never as good or bad as any single performance. I've never believed my critics or my worshippers, and I've always been able to leave the game at the arena." --Charles Barkley
Deep Thought For The Day:
"No matter where I go, I find that almost everyone I meet is mostly water."
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_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com
/_/ \ "For 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 for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
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by the individual writer. Thanks!
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Video Imagery (Michael's Video Production Business.)
"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video we gave
them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty seconds my mom was
crying and my dad did too. They said it was the best Christmas gift we could
have given them!! You did such a beautiful job! They were so surprised and so
touched---they really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so
special to us all. My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for the
video too! Thanks again!"
Kelli (RKaGe@aol.com) College Station, TX
Let me make you a video from your pictures or home movies!
Check out the web page for Michael's video production business!
Video Imagery
http://members.aol.com/Videoimg/index.html
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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?
The Four Spiritual Laws
http://www.ccci.org/laws/index.html
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