______________________________________


{HeartTouchers.com}   *Alive to Wonder* 

______________________________________

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

_________________________________________


Alive to Wonder

by Ken Pierpont


Last Christmas Eve I was sitting in our cozy home when I felt a tug to go to a downtown church for the Christmas Eve service.  I got my topcoat and keys and headed out.  Kyle and Hannah went along.  It was perfect.  Snow was falling in the city. 


The service was everything you could expect of a Christmas Eve service.  The people were friendly and warm.  Everyone dressed for the season.  The choir was delightful.  The pastor was at his best.  The children's choir was perfect.  It was a candlelight service.  At the close of the service we extinguished our candles.  We put on our coats and scarves and gloves and hats.  On the way out we extinguished the candles and stepped through the thick solid wood doors into the winter night. 

Snow was falling, thicker now.  It was coming down in heavy flakes like you see in a Christmas movie.  Just as we stepped though the door the chimes began to peel out over the City as if to say in celebration, "Christ is Born. Christ is Born.  What sorrow or sickness or sinfulness can ultimately prevail.  Christ is born!"  The scene before us was like a Currier and Ives Christmas card.   My son and I exchanged a wordless look of understanding.  He knew what I was thinking.  I knew his. 

Just as we stepped into the night a woman walking behind me blurted out, "Oh, that's just great.  More snow.  I've seen enough snow already for a full year."

I felt irritation and then pity.  I looked at my son again and smiled.  He looked back and shook his head.  Later in the car he said, "She missed a perfect Christmas Eve Moment."

"She did, Kyle.  That is so sad," I said.

If this night didn't stir up any spirit in her something must be wrong.  Like a bird with a broken wing her spirit must have been grounded.  She had just experienced the ancient story of the incarnation of God for man. She had just sung ancient, sacred carols of the advent and the gospel.  She had just seen childrens faces awash in candlelight.  Good tidings of great joy for all people were still ringing in her ears.  All that was capped by one of the most ideal Christmas moments I have ever experienced.  I had to wonder what circumstances and decisions would make a woman so dead to wonder that she could overlook the obvious beauty of such a moment. 

It's almost Christmas.  Be alive to life and love and wonder.  It really is everywhere you look. 

Ken Pierpont
ken@kenpierpont.com

Write Ken and let him know your thoughts on his story!

Ken Pierpont is the Director of the Riverfront Character Inn and International Conference Center in Flint, Michgian.  He and his wife Lois have four sons and four daughters.  Ken sends the Stonebridge Newsletter, a free weekly electronic newsletter, to almost 5,000 subscribers every Monday morning.  You can visit his site http://www.kenpierpont.com or e-mail Ken at ken@kenpierpont.com.



_________________________________________


Thought For The Day:

"A great leader never sets himself above his followers except in carrying responsibilities." --Jules Ormont


Verse for the Day:

"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!" --Phillipians 2:8


Kid's Thought For The Day:

"A kid who can't catch the ball says his glove doesn't fit right."


Parent's Thought For The Day

"Parents are not interested in justice, they are interested in quiet." --Bill Cosby


Coach's Thought For The Day

"You must do the things you think you cannot do." --Eleanor Roosevelt


Writer's Thought For The Day:

"I do a first draft as passionately and as quickly as I can. I believe a story is only valid when it is immediate and passionate; when it dances out of your subconscious. If you interfere in any way, you destroy it." --Ray Bradbury


Deep Thought For The Day:

"The only thing shorter than a weekend is a vacation."


_________________________________________


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 550,000 visitors and over 1,030,000 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