Heart Touchers

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*Three Boys, Three Shovels & Peer Pressure* 12/5/01

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Happy Holidays from Heart Touchers!

We wanted to let everyone know that for Christmas
we will be offering our book, Straight From the Heart
"A Celebration of Life" for only $13 (instead of the
regular price of $14.95), and best of all, we will
pay the shipping! So if you have any interest in
purchasing an autographed copy of the book for
yourself, or as a gift for your loved ones, now is
the time to get it! But if you want them in time for
Christmas, you need to act fast!
IMPORTANT! This is only for those orders that come
directly to us and not the publisher and we can only
accept checks and money orders.
For those who still want to order the book by credit
card, you can still do so through the publisher at:

http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/michaeltpowers01.html

but you will be paying full price and shipping.

To order your autographed copy send a check or
money order for $13 (We pay the shipping!) for each
book made out to Michael T. Powers, and then send it to:

Michael T. Powers
1918 Liberty Lane
Janesville, WI 53545

Hurry! Time is running out!

To preview the book by reading some of the stories visit:

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/michael_t__powers/

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Straight From the Heart: A Celebration of Life

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Three Boys, Three Shovels & Peer Pressure

By Joseph Walker

Ever notice how two people can look at the same
thing and see something altogether different? Take
snow, for example. When my 10-year-old son, Jon,
sees a thick layer of new-fallen snow on the front
yard, he sees a snow fort that needs to be built,
snowball fights that need to be fought and snow
angels that need to be created. When my wife, Anita,
sees the same snowy scene, she sees sidewalks
and a driveway that need to be shoveled.

Guess whose vision is the first to become reality?

"But I got my homework done," Jon whined as
his mother dragged him out to shovel on a recent
snowy afternoon. "You said I could play if I got my
homework done."

"Yes, I know," Anita said. "But that was before I
found out that your father is going to be working late
tonight. We have to get this snow off the driveway
and the sidewalks before it turns to ice. I need
your help."

Jon started to shovel, but his heart wasn't in it.
Mostly he just pushed the snow around, without
actually making much progress toward completion
of the job at hand. Anita's patience with him was
running short when Adam, Jon's buddy who lives
a few houses up the street, suddenly appeared
on his own driveway, shovel in hand. Adam is
smaller than Jon, but he began pushing snow off
of his driveway like a pro. Then Brady, Jon's
friend who lives across the street, emerged from
his house and began clearing his driveway enthusiastically.

It probably isn't coincidental that the quality of
Jon's work improved significantly after he saw what
his friends were doing. Suddenly, it was cool to
shovel snow. Way cool. MUCH cooler than ... you
know ... playing in the stuff.

"Why don't you go inside, Mom?" Jon suggested
in a voice that, for the first time in half an hour,
didn't whine. "I can handle this." When Jon finished
with our driveway and sidewalks, he carried his snow
shovel up the street to help Adam finish his. Then
the two boys trudged down to Brady's, and before
you knew it, all three houses were de-snowed.
But that isn't the end of the story. Even though
the boys were technically free to play as soon as
the work at their respective houses was finished,
they decided snow-shoveling was so much fun that
they wanted to continue doing it. They started looking
around the neighborhood for driveways and sidewalks
to shovel. By dinnertime, six or seven driveways were
wondrously clean, thanks to three boys, three shovels and
an incredible thing called peer pressure. Of course,
peer pressure doesn't always work out so incredibly.
We've all seen how it can drag our kids down to the
lowest possible levels of speech, habits and behaviors.
But when it is working correctly in their lives, it can be
a powerful, positive force, encouraging them toward that
which is good and right and appropriate.

Not to mention what it can do for snowy sidewalks.

Joseph Walker
valuescom@juno.com

Write Joseph and let him know what you thought of his story!

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Joseph Walker has been writing professionally since
1980, when he left college to join the staff of a daily
metropolitan newspaper. For 10 years -- including
six as the paper's TV columnist and critic -- he was
part of the mainstream media, and was painfully
aware of the overwhelming negativity of contemporary
journalism. Joe says, "Nobody was looking for real
solutions to the problems society was facing; they
were just looking for someone or something to blame
the problems on." So in 1990 Joe began writing
ValueSpeak, a weekly syndicated column that
attempts to look at contemporary issues from the
perspective of traditional values. Joe and his wife,
Anita, are parents of five children, and one grandchild.

You'll love his new book, "How Can you Mend a
Broken Spleen!" Ordering is simple and fast at the
following Amazon address:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573453005/qid=972961681/sr=1-6/straighfromthe0a

AOL Users click here: How To Mend A Broken Spleen

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READER FEEDBACK:

I so enjoyed this piece by Alison Peters. Her daughter is a dear heart that
takes her cue from her parents. A cue that guarantees a successful and
rewarding life out in the world of different colors.
Maria Carey
MCAREY@GreenwichLibrary.org

Dear Michael,
What a beautiful well written story. Oh that we could see
a persons inside instead of the outside. Alison's daughter will treasure
the story for years to come. And it has given me one more thing to pray
about. To smile more and remember that Christ died for the little
brown boys as well as this old lady.
Love,
MC
romans83839mc@juno.com

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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

Writer's Thought For The Day:

"One writes to make a home for oneself, on paper,
in time, in others' minds." --Alfred Kazin

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
\_\ /    HeartTouchers@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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Touchers are owned by the authors and are used with
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honoring the rights of those writers who graciously
share their stories with us!

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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-- 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! Visit:

http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/

AOL Users click here:   Video Imagery
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http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/

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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?
http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm

AOL Users click here: The Four Spiritual Laws
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A number of people have written to us asking what
an EBook is, since our book is being offered in
both print and EBook versions. An EBook is a
book that can be downloaded and read right on
your computer. The advantage of ordering
the EBook is that is costs less, $8.95 (No other
charges), as compared to $14.95 + shipping and
handling for the print book. Plus you can download
the EBook and begin reading the stories in a few
minutes! EBooks are read via Acrobat Reader,
which is software that most of you already have
on your computer. And if for some reason you
don't, it can be downloaded free of charge at the
web site. So for those of you who don't want to
wait for the print book to be delivered, check out
this web site to order the EBook version of
Straight From the Heart "A Celebration of Life."

http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/michaeltpowers01.html

AOL Users Click here