Heart Touchers - "The Same Old Story" by Michael T. Powers

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The Same Old Story

by Michael T. Powers

In the twenty-three years that my wife and I have been doing youth ministry, we have
dealt with a lot of teens who have gotten themselves into some dire straits. In fact,
I thought there was nothing that could possibly surprise us anymore.

I was wrong.

There is one teenage girl that we know that I had to tell you about. However,
before I do, I want you to understand that in our youth ministry, we always strive
for confidentiality, to protect both the teen and the teen's family. So it is with great
trepidation that I share this with you for I know that some of you will figure out who
this girl is. But I am hoping that by the end of these few pages, you will understand
why I had to share what I am about to tell you.

But before you rush to judgment, I want you to hang with me here. In fact, more
than anything else, I want you to put yourself in this teen's shoes. Try and feel
what she must be feeling.

This young girl is 14 years old and she comes to the stark realization that she
is pregnant. Not only does she realize that her life is going to drastically change,
but to make matters worse, she is afraid to tell her boyfriend. Normally she can go
to her boyfriend with any problem. He is a pretty stable, understanding and
dependable guy. But this time it's different. You see, the baby is not his.

She lays awake that first night thinking about all the people she has to face that next day.

Her parents.

She has always been worthy of the trust her parents have put in her. In fact other
families have remarked to her parents how they wish their daughters were more like
her. But now she has to stand before them and explain how she got pregnant. And if
that is not bad enough, she is going to have to explain to them that the father of the
baby is not the young man that her parents think she should marry.

Her boyfriend.

She loves her boyfriend more than anyone! Well, almost more than anyone. How is
she going to face him? Where is she going to get the courage? It would almost be
easier if she could tell him that it was just a big mistake and that she is oh, so sorry
for it. But she can't lie to him. She will have to look into his trusting eyes and tell
him that she willfully chose the path that led to this little life growing inside of her.
She knows deep down inside, that if she had to do it all over again, she would make
the same decision, and end up in the same precarious situation. "Please God!
Please let him understand and not abandon me. I need him so much right now!"

Her friends.

Right or wrong, they have always put her on a pedestal. Always looked to her for
answers. Always modeled their life after hers. But she knows instinctively that they
will not understand. In fact she knows that she may never be able to explain to them
what made her do what she did.

So she lays there in bed, afraid, overwhelmed, and reaching out to God for strength
to face what is ahead of her.

The next day she finally gets up the courage to tell her boyfriend. He reacts just as
she feared he would react. He is going to leave her.

She becomes distraught and questions God: "Why God? Why? I know that I am in
this situation because of a decision I made, but please don't take my boyfriend away
from me! I desperately need him now!"

This unnamed teen goes to bed that night more afraid than ever, feeling every bit the
young child that she is.

Her name? Normally I wouldn't give that to you. But in this case she asked that her
name be known so that others will understand what she has gone through and
be encouraged.

Her name is Mary and she lived 2000 years ago.

Have you ever thought of the Christmas story in this way before?

Think about it! You are a 14-year old girl and an angel appears to you and says,
"I'm going to place a baby inside of your womb." Most 14-year old girls I know
would say, "I'm sorry, but that doesn't fit in with my plans for my life. I have my
whole life ahead of me and I can't be held back by a baby! How am I going to go
to prom now!?"

How does Mary tell Joseph? Have you ever thought of that? She has to go to her
future husband and say, "I'm pregnant and the baby is not yours."

The conversation may have gone something like this:

Mary: "Joe, before you get angry at me I want you to know that I didn't cheat on you."

Joseph: "Come on Mary! You know full well that we have not known each other in the
biblical sense, so the baby can't possibly be mine!"

Mary: "Joseph, you have to believe me. I did not have sex with anyone!"

Joseph: "Please Mary, don't do this to me. You know that I love you and care for
you. But I can't listen to this."

Mary: "OK, Joseph, I won't lie to you." (She pauses, searching his eyes for the
understanding that she knows is not humanly possible.) "The baby is from God."

Joseph: "Mary! Please! This is not like you! In fact, I am beginning to think I don't
even know you any more!"

Mary: "You have to believe me Joseph!"

Joseph: (The wheels already turning in his head as to what he needs to do) "Mary,
you know that I love you. But I won't stand for this. I have every right to put you
away from me publicly, but I don't have the heart to do that to you. I won't marry

you now, but I will allow you to find some dignity and not make a big deal out of
this. But go you will."

Mary: "Please Joseph! You've got to believe me! Why would I make something like this up!"

Joseph: "Enough! I don't want to hear another word."

And he walks away, leaving Mary distraught and worrying.

You know the story. An angel appears to Joseph and verifies that what Mary says is truth.

Hopefully by now you are not thinking of the story of Jesus' birth as the same
old boring story that we read every Christmas season!

Stop your busyness and ponder with me these next few weeks.

Think of God as a fetus, leaving Heaven and all of its splendor and becoming one
of the most fragile things on Earth: a human baby. An animal baby is more able
to defend and adapt when they are born than a human is.

As a writer, I would never have written the story this way. If I'm going to write
the story of God coming to Earth, He's going to be on a white stallion when He
rides out of Heaven. Every hoof-beat will leave lightning-like sparks on the streets
of gold and peals of thunder in the air. The stars will line up as letters in every
language that will blink: "The King of Kings is Coming!" He's going to burst through
the ozone layer in a fiery explosion that will rock the foundation of the earth and
send humans and animals to a prone position on the ground. Then He's going to
circle the entire earth from east to west and the clouds will trail behind Him like a
pure white flowing robe. There'll be the deafening sound of heavenly trumpets and
the majestic pureness of millions of angels' voices hitting your ears as if they were
right next to you.

That's how I'd write it.

God says, "Nope. He's going to live inside of an unwed teenage girl and He's going
to be born in a stable." Which is a really nice word for a cave where smelly animals
live. There was manure and urine on the floor, and the stench was almost unbearable.
Priceless paintings and works of art did not hang on the walls in this nursery. No, if
you were to look on these walls you would see cobwebs.

Psalm 33:6 reads, "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry
host by the breath of his mouth." The One who breathed galaxies into existence,
now depended on an umbilical cord for His oxygen. Amazing!

In your wildest dreams, can you equate the deity of the King of Kings making
his entrance into this world through the human process we call birth.

Instead of noticing a crown of purest gold on his head, you notice the cone-shape
of his head as he was forced through the birth canal. Instead of wearing the finest
robes money can buy, he is wrapped in rags.

Instead of a finely crafted bed made by the most gifted craftsman in the land, he
is laid in a feeding trough. Don't give me this "manger" stuff. Manger sounds too
romantic. God was put in a feeding trough where cows put their tongues to lick
up food. That's where the King of the universe slept.

He who sustains the entire universe is now being sustained through the milk of a teenage girl.

If Mary could have written a book, it would be on the New York Times' Best-Selling
List. The title of the book would have been, "I Changed God's Diapers." Have you
ever thought of that? Someone had to change the God of the universe's diapers.
This gets a little gross, and I'm used to talking to youth, so forgive me, but, human
waste was next to Jesus' skin. Is it hard to imagine Jesus in such a mundane and
human way? In fact it is almost irreverent. But the God of the universe loved us so
much that he was willing to humble Himself and give us the most precious Christmas
present ever given: His Son Jesus.

May we never let ourselves say, "The same old Christmas story," ever again. And
may we never get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season to
not stop and ponder about what an amazing God we have.

May this Christmas, and every Christmas from here on out, never lose it's magic
or it's meaning.

From my family to yours,

Michael T. Powers
HeartTouchers@aol.com

© 2006 by Michael T. Powers

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 3.7 million visitors in the last five 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 29 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

Most importantly, Michael believes that life is not about religion, but about a relationship -- a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Note from Michael:

Looking for a way to share the Christmas story with your friends and family this year? Permission is granted for you to copy and paste this story and send it out with your Christmas cards this year. All we ask is that you leave the author information paragraphs at the end!

P.S. If you liked this story check out our Inspired Audio for this week at:

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/Inspired_Audio

It is from a message that Michael gave a few years back that was based on the story he wrote above. You will get both the Christmas and Easter story from a fresh new perspective!

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Creation Q & A

Q: When a giraffe lowers its head toward the ground, wouldn't you expect the blood pressure to increase so much that its brain would explode?

A: It's true that the giraffe's blood pressure rises so much that it might cause its brain to explode. But, this doesn't happen because the giraffe has a series of incredible features. This includes reinforced artery walls, bypass valves, as well as pressure-sensing signals that all work together to maintain the proper blood pressure.

But then comes the real trick. As the giraffe raises its head, the same systems used to reduce the pressure when the head is lowered, also act to increase the pressure as the head is raised (so the giraffe doesn't pass out). The problem for evolutionists is this. How many giraffes blew their brains to pieces when bending down--how many passed out as they lifted their heads, becoming food for the lions--until the special features somehow evolved? It's obvious that the very first giraffes had to have these special features right from the beginning. If not, they wouldn't have survived to pass them on to their offspring! Of course, this is not at all surprising to those who believe in a Creator who created everything in six days, not billions of years!

Source: AnswersinGenesis.org

Creation News

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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!

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Thought For The Day

"The squeaky wheel doesn't always get greased; it often gets replaced." --John Peers

Verse for the Day

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may
know how to answer everyone." Colossians 4:6

Kid's Thought For The Day

Here's a king," announced our three year old as
he unwrapped a figurine from our Nativity scene.
"And here's a donkey," he added as he continued
unpacking. Removing tissue from the statue of
the infant molded permanently in his manger, our
son exclaimed, "Here's baby Jesus in his car seat!"

Parent's Thought For The Day

"Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to the country
and to mankind is to bring up a family." -- George Bernard Shaw

Coach's Thought For The Day

"The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves."

Writer's Thought For The Day

"Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify
scenes. To fall in love with the first draft to the point where one cannot change it is
to greatly enhance the prospects of never publishing." --Richard North Patterson

Deep Thought For The Day

"'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual
Yuletide celebration, And throughout our place of residence, Kinetic activity was
not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of
domestic rodent known as Mus musculus. Hosiery was meticulously suspended from
the forward edge of the woodburning caloric apparatus, Pursuant to our anticipatory
pleasure regarding an imminent visitation from an eccentric philanthropist among
whose folkloric appellations is the honorific title of St. Nicklaus ..."

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: "The Same Old Story" by Author Michael T. Powers

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/Inspired_Audio

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Over 187,000 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.

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

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Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you?

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/Life_Purpose

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