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*Gabriele's Questions* 12/25/02 ______________________________________ If you enjoy this free weekly e-mail service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join the thousands of HeartTouchers.com readers around the world by sending a blank e-mail to: HeartTouchers-subscribe@myinjesus.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past stories in our archives at: http://www.HeartTouchers.com ____________________________________________ Be sure to check out our brand new inspirational list just for teenagers! Heart4Teens.com To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com or visit: http://www.Heart4Teens.com This weekly list contains Heart-touching stories, quotes, links to uplifting web sites, and humor geared towards the teenage crowd. However, parents of teens, grandparents, college students, youth pastors, teachers, coaches, and anyone who just can't read enough inspirational stories will also benefit! What are you waiting for?! Subscribe today to receive your weekly encouragement! _________________________________________ Can't get enough inspirational stories in your life? Would you like to send a unique gift to your friends and family? Then order a copy of the inspirational book: Straight From the Heart "A Celebration of Life" by Michael T. Powers for only $13.95. http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/michaeltpowers01.html You can preview this book by visiting: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/michael_powers _________________________________________ It is my hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas... A Christmas full of warm memories, people that love you, and most important, a Christmas filled with the knowledge that the Creator of the Universe came down to earth and died just for you, so that you may know Him personally through a relationship with His son Jesus Christ... From my family to yours, Michael, Kristi, Caleb, and Connor ________________________________________ Gabriel's Questions By Max Lucado GABRIEL must have scratched his head at this one. He wasn't one to question his God-given missions. Sending fire and dividing seas were all in an eternity's work for this angel. When God sent, Gabriel went. And when word got out that God was to become man, Gabriel was enthused. He could envision the moment: The Messiah in a blazing chariot. The King descending on a fiery cloud. An explosion of light from which the Messiah would emerge. That's what he expected. What he never expected, however, was what he got: a slip of paper with a Nazarene address. "God will become a baby," it read. "Tell the mother to name the child Jesus. And tell her not to be afraid." Gabriel was never one to question, but this time he had to wonder. God will become a baby? Gabriel had seen babies before. He had been platoon leader on the bulrush operation. He remembered what little Moses looked like. That's okay for humans, he thought to himself. But God? The heavens can't contain him; how could a body? Besides, have you seen what comes out of those babies? Hardly befitting for the Creator of the universe. Babies must be carried and fed, bounced and bathed. To imagine some mother burping God on her shoulder--that was beyond what even an angel could imagine. And what of this name--what was it--Jesus? Such a common name. There's a Jesus in every cul-de-sac. Come on, even Gabriel has more punch to it than Jesus. Call the baby Eminence or Majesty or Heaven-sent. Anything but Jesus. So Gabriel scratched his head. What happened to the good ol' days? The Sodom and Gomorrah stuff. Flooding the globe. Flaming swords. That's the action he liked. But Gabriel had his orders. Take the message to Mary. Must be a special girl, he assumed as he traveled. But Gabriel was in for another shock. One peek told him Mary was no queen. The mother-to-be of God was not regal. She was a Jewish peasant who'd barely outgrown acne and had a crush on a guy named Joe. And speaking of Joe--what does this fellow know? Might as well be a weaver in Spain or a cobbler in Greece. He's a carpenter. Look at him over there, sawdust in his beard and nail apron around his waist. You're telling me God is going to have dinner every night with him? You're telling me the source of wisdom is going to call this guy "Dad?" You're telling me a common laborer is going to be charged with giving food to God? What if he gets laid off? What if he gets cranky? What if he decides to run off with a pretty young girl from down the street? Then where will we be? It was all Gabriel could do to keep from turning back. "This is a peculiar idea you have, God," he must have muttered to himself. *** Are God's guardians given to such musings? Are we? Are we still stunned by God's coming? Still staggered by the event? Does Christmas still spawn the same speechless wonder it did two thousand years ago? I've been asking that question lately--to myself. As I write, Christmas is only days away and something just happened that has me concerned that the pace of the holidays may be overshadowing the purpose of the holidays. I saw a manger in a mall. Correct that. I barely saw a manger in a mall. I almost didn't see it. I was in a hurry. Guests coming. Santa dropping in. Sermons to be prepared. Services to be planned. Presents to be purchased. The crush of things was so great that the crèche of Christ was almost ignored. I nearly missed it. And had it not been for the child and his father, I would have. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw them. The little boy, three, maybe four years old, in jeans and high-tops staring at the manger's infant. The father, in baseball hat and work clothes, looking over his son's shoulder, gesturing first at Joseph, then Mary, then the baby. He was telling the little fellow the story. And oh, the twinkle in the boy's eyes. The wonder on his little face. He didn't speak. He just listened. And I didn't move. I just watched. What questions were filling the little boy's head? Could they have been the same as Gabriel's? What sparked the amazement on his face? Was it the magic? And why is it that out of a hundred or so of God's children, only two paused to consider his son? What is this December demon that steals our eyes and stills our tongues? Isn't this the season to pause and pose Gabriel's questions? The tragedy is not that we can't answer them, but that we are too busy to ask them. Only heaven knows how long Gabriel fluttered unseen above Mary before he took a breath and broke the news. But he did. He told her the name. He told her the plan. He told her not to be afraid. And when he announced, "With God nothing is impossible!" he said it as much for himself as for her. For even though he couldn't answer the questions, he knew who could, and that was enough. And even though we can't answer them all, taking time to ask a few would be a good start. Max Lucado ministry@maxlucado.com Send Max an e-mail and let him know what you thought of his story! "The Arrival" is from Max's book: God Came Near © 1987 by Max Lucado ISBNO8499-5255-7 (Used by Permission) _________________________________ With more than 28 million books in print, Max Lucado has touched millions with his signature storytelling writing style. Awards and accolades follow Max with each book he writes. Max is the first author to win the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year three times--1999 for Just Like Jesus, 1997 for In theGrip of Grace and 1995 for When God Whispers Your Name. In 1994, he became the only author to have 11 of his twelve books in printsimultaneously appear on paperback, hardcover and children's CBA bestseller lists. Lucado set a new industry record by concurrently placing seven different Word titles on the CBA Hardcover Bestseller List in both March and April 1997. A Max Lucado title has appeared on the CBA hardcover bestseller list every month for the past seven years. His newest book, A Love Worth Giving, was released in September 2002 and You Are Special recently won a Gold Medallion award in theInspirational categoy. In addition to his nonfiction books, Lucado has authored several award-winning children's titles including , Just In Case You Ever Wonder, The Crippled Lamb and Alabaster's Song. Max's newest book is a follow-up to the award-winning You Are Special entitled You Are Mine. He served as the general editor for the best-selling Inspirational Bible and God's Inspirational PromiseBook. Max serves as the pulpit minister of the Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas. But he says his greatest accomplishment is finding a one-in-a-million wife in Denalyn and having three unbelievable daughters: Jenna,Andrea, and Sara. You can visit his web site at: http://www.maxlucado.com _________________________________________ MICHAEL T. POWERS www.HeartTouchers.com "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 by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 _________________________________________ The copyrights to the stories that appear in HeartTouchers.com are owned by the authors and are used with their permission. We refuse to run stories without the author's permission and contact info listed after the story. We also refuse to publish stories listed as "author unknown." (All of which violates Copyright Law and the rights of the authors.) This e-mail may be forwarded in its entirety, but please do not cut and paste the stories to be used elsewhere unless you have contacted and been given permission by the individual writer. Thank you so much for honoring the rights of those writers who graciously share their stories with us! __________________________________________ 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! The 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 photos! Check out my video production business by visiting: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery/ ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in HeartTouchers.com? Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/ ___________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm __________________________________________ |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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