______________________________________


{HeartTouchers.com}   *How Sweet is Revenge?* 

______________________________________

If you enjoy this email service, I encourage
you to spread the word to family and friends that we
may bring inspiration the lives of many!  If you
are not on the list and this has been passed along
to you, join us by visiting:

http://www.HeartTouchers.com

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

http://www.Heart4Teens.com


____________________________________________


Michael's updated book Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter," is finally here! ($13.95)

Visit the link below to preview the book!  Personalized autographed copies are available at no extra charge and we pay the shipping for you!  An E-book version is also available for just $6.95!

http://www.hearttouchers.com/books


Be sure to let us know who you would like it autographed for and then allow about two weeks for us to sign it and send it on its way to you.

Credit card, PayPal, Checks, and Money orders accepted!

The book is also available through Amazon.com, Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Booklocker.com

_________________________________________


How Sweet Is Revenge?

by Rubel Shelly


Theresa Wilson was a woman scorned. When she went to see her ex- boyfriend a few weeks ago now, she found him with another woman!

Nobody likes to be rejected. Nobody likes the feeling of humiliation and injury that comes of the experience. We human beings have feelings and don't appreciate having them stomped and betrayed. Ms. Wilson is no exception. So she had a few choice words for him and stormed out - still seething with anger.

It was only about an hour later that she spotted him driving on the street in front of her. So she put her frustration in action to ram his car. Not once but twice. After the second slam into his rear bumper, she had forced the car off the road. Only when the driver got out and started toward her did she realize her mistake. It wasn't her former boyfriend. It was a confused fellow driving a car similar to his!

For her out-of-control assault on an unsuspecting and innocent driver, Ms. Wilson was arrested by state troopers on charges of vehicular assault. She not only learned that several different makes of compact cars from the 1980s look very much alike but that revenge is seldom as sweet as it looks from a distance.

Before we are too harsh with an angry woman bent on revenge, maybe the rest of us need to ask ourselves a few questions: How prone am I to harbor a grudge? How inclined to get even when wronged? How quick to take offense?

There is a line near the end of Camelot that stuck in my mind the first time I heard it. As King Arthur surveys the ruin and carnage of war, he looks forlornly over the landscape and laments that revenge is "the most worthless of causes."

Countless wars have been fought to avenge tarnished honor. Friendships have been destroyed, marriages broken apart, and children set against their parents for this most worthless of causes. Simply because it leads to such terrible outcomes, most of the great ethical teachers across the centuries have rebuked the urge to retaliate. Jesus not only taught his followers to let offenses pass - to turn the other cheek - but to forgive our enemies. He said to return good for evil.

If you have suffered some slight that is haunting you still and tempting you to get even, you might reflect on Theresa Wilson's experience. Is the pettiness of revenge any less if you ram the right car? Hurt the person you intended to injure? Or does retaliation simply diminish you and reveal your lack of character?

Revenge is never about getting even but is always a form of falling below another person. Only forgiveness allows you to rise above.

Rubel Shelly
whcoc@edge.net

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

(c) 2005 Rubel Shelly. Used by permission.

Visit: http://www.faithmatters.com to read more of Rubel's writing!


Rubel Shelly has preached for the Woodmont Hills Church of Christ in Nashville since 1978. During that time, he has also taught at David Lipscomb University and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He is the author of more than 20 books, including several which have been translated into languages such as Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Russian. He is married to the former Myra Shappley, and they are the parents of three children: Mrs. David (Michelle) Arms, Tim, and Tom.

_________________________________________


Thought For The Day:

"Don't be 'consisten' but be simply true." --Oliver Wendell Holmes


Verse for the Day:

"Simply let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one."--Matthew 5:37


Kid's Thought For The Day:

"If you are going to draw on the wall do it behind the sofa."


Parent's Thought For The Day

"There is no finer investement for any community than putting milk into babies."--Winston Churchill


Coach's Thought For The Day

"Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower."--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Writer's Thought For The Day:

"Don't tell people you want to be a writer. Everyone will try to talk of you out of choosing a job with so little security, so it is better just to keep it to yourself, and prove them all wrong later." --Meg Cabot


Deep Thought For The Day:

"My doctor tells me I suffer from extreme hypochondria. He prescribed a strong placebo, but I don't think it's working."


_________________________________________


Have you been to the HeartTouchers.com website lately?  If you like what you see and would like to have your own professional looking website, visit the link below.  Bizstudio has been a wonderful service for HeartTouchers.com and with 651,389 visitors and over 1,294,442 page views in the past three years, the website has been a tremendous tool in helping us to "Touch Lives, One Email at a Time." Although I had no prior experience building a website, I was able to create and build the HeartTouchers.com site easily utilizing Bizstudio's online editor.  It includes an Online Site Editor, Unlimited Updates, Unlimited Pages, Professional Themes, Pre-Programmed Features, E-mail Accounts, and free Search Engine Submission.  If I could do it with no prior experience you can too! Check it out at this link:

http://www.bizstudio.com/main/home.htm?bpn=A16435



__________________________________________


Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business

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.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery

__________________________________________


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

_________________________________________


Reading Books, Changing Lives!

For those of you who would like to purchase the books from the HeartTouchers.com bookstore via your credit card, you can now do so!

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!

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/books


_________________________________________________


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, $6.95 (No other charges), as compared to $13.95 for the print book. Plus your EBook will arrive the same day you order it and you can begin reading the stories right away!

EBooks are read via Acrobat Reader, which is software that is already on your computer. So for those of you who don't want to wait for the print book to be delivered, check out this link to order the EBook version of Heart Touchers "Life-Changing Stories of Faith, Love, and Laughter."

http://www.hearttouchers.com/books