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{Straight From the Heart}   *Listen To Me!*  4/12/00
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Welcome to "Straight From the Heart!"
If you enjoy this free daily email service, I encourage you to 
forward it on to family and friends. If this has been passed along 
to you and you want to join the list, just send a blank email to:  Thunder27@aol.com
I appreciate any feedback or constructive criticism, so feel free to 
write me (Michael T. Powers) and let me know what you think!

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My thanks again for everyone who prayed about my last TV interview!  
It went extremely well, in fact better than I could have hoped for, 
and it is all because you prayed!
   I will give some more details in the next few days, but the 
majority of the interview centered on teens and premarital sex, and 
I was able to share about Kristi and I saving ourselves for marriage...
and a number of other things from our experiences as youth workers, etc.
Thank you again for lifting the interview up in prayer!
Michael
P.S.  I was told the interview is not scheduled to be shown for about 
2 months or so.  When I know all the details, I will let everyone know 
when and where it will be on...
P.S.S.  Last call for the booksigning I am doing tonight, (Wednesday, 
April 12) at Barnes and Noble located at 7433 Mineral Point Rd, in 
Madison WI. (Next to the West Town Mall).  Hope to see ya there!
P.S.S.  Our only working vehicle bit the dust on my way to work on 
Tuesday evening, so we have no vehicles at the moment that we can use.  But Roger & Twyla Johnson, and Andy King are coming to my rescue so that we may get to the booksinging and my third shift job.  Thanks a million you guys!

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Listen to me!

By:  Jay McGinty


You might wonder as you go through the child rearing experience. Every 
one of us does. You can't help but wonder, are they listening? Given 
the hundreds of times each child is told something over and over again,
every parent, or at least this parent was wondering if John was ever 
going to keep a lucent thought in this head for more than a two hour 
period. I got my answer in due course. I got my answer in a way I 
never thought possible, in a way I never want to get an answer again.

My 14-year-old son John; had been "seeing" the same girl for about the 
last two years. I don't think they were what you would call 
boyfriend/girlfriend but they were very close. Actually closer than 
the "puppy love" relationships usually allow and probably closer than 
most "mature" high school romances. I think they achieved this because 
they chose to be better friends than the usual boyfriend/girlfriend 
relationship. They just enjoy each other's company. 

When you look at Morgan, you could tell she is of mixed nationality. 
Born of East Tennessee and Caribbean parents, Morgan is uncommonly 
attractive. She had done some teenage modeling and in my minds eye she 
certainly could have made it a career. Like John, Morgan is also 14 
years old, however her experiences added more years to her life than 
most of us can imagine. Morgan is battling bone cancer. It's not 
really fair, I told myself every time I thought of the situation, 
which was often. 

You see we had been given the news that Morgan was in remission from 
the very worst form of Leukemia. So there is a God! A benevolent God 
that had heard and answered our prayers after all. You can't know how 
much that means to a lay youth minister…me. Clearly this would be a 
victory! How could I be expected to answer the questions of my youth 
group of which John and Morgan are a part?  "It's not fair", I would 
cry out in my prayers to God. "How could you allow her to beat Leukemia
only to die from bone cancer?" So that is what I told my youth group 
and myself. Each and every time we met, prayer would be offered for her
swift recovery and trip home to us from St. Jude's Hospital in 
Memphis, Tennessee. We believed.

What I didn't realize at the time is when you ask God for something, 
sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes the answer is wait and 
sometimes the answer is no. We got a call from Morgan's Mom that the 
situation had gotten worse and she suggested that we come say good-bye.

Aside from my anxiety over Morgan's turn for the worst, my first 
concern was for my son:  how he would react, and what he would say 
and most importantly how would his relationship with God change? So 
during the eight-hour car ride to Memphis, I tried to prepare John for
what he would see. I told him that Morgan would not look like she once 
did. I tried to prepare him so he would not recoil from the devastation
that her body was likely to have encountered. As the next two days were
to unfold, I should have been concerned for myself rather than my teenager.

When we arrived at the hospital, John walked right up to her. It was I 
who shuttered at what I saw. And what I saw was overwhelming. Morgan 
had tubes coming from everywhere. On her mostly baldhead she had 
snatches of hair, here and there. Morgan looked as though she weighed 
less than 70 pounds. There were monitors of every description buzzing 
and recording and beeping. There were family members coming and going. 
There were nurses, lab techs and doctors of every description. But as 
John approached Morgan all these people, all these things, all these 
sounds melted from my perception and all I saw was my son and Morgan. 
All I saw was my son, becoming a man right before my eyes and Morgan.

For the next forty hours John talked to Morgan, held Morgan, and feed 
Morgan. All I could do was wonder why God would allow this to happen. 
What was I going to tell John, if she should die? What would I tell 
the youth group? How was I going to illustrate what I had been saying 
to them and why we as Christians should always rely on the power of 
prayer? Surely our Lord and Savior would not miss an opportunity such 
as this to demonstrate His omnipotence, grace and limitless love?

Before John and I finished our visit, Morgan slipped into a coma. 
There was nothing else we could do, so reluctantly we came home. I 
called Morgan's mom everyday and the news was always the same.

About two weeks later, Morgan passed away, never having regained 
consciousness or the frustration of fighting for her life and losing. 
I'm thankful for that part of it.

We all cried. I am not ashamed to report, that I cried probably more 
than most. All that first night I wondered as the realization closed 
in on me, how was God served by the passing of this precious little 
girl? How could God possibly need and love Morgan more than we did? 
What are the lessons that can be learned by this experience? How did 
the Kingdom of God benefit from this human tragedy? "Teach me", I 
would pray. 

When morning broke, I got most of my answers. I went into John's room 
to wake him. I had not gotten much sleep that night and expected that 
John would probably want to stay home as I did. John was already awake
when I leaned over him and asked him how he was doing. What he said 
next I wont forget as long as I live. John said, "Dad I am holding 
onto three things-Morgan doesn't hurt anymore-she has a new body-and 
she is with Jesus."

Be very careful what you say to your children, because they just might 
be listening. Be very careful what you teach your children, because 
they just might be watching. If you are very fortunate and are paying 
attention, your children just might teach you a thing or-two-or-three.

Jay McGinty
yesdear_@mindspring.com

Send Jay an email and let him know what you thought of his story!

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A little bit about Jay:

 I own a landscaping/lawn maintenance company (I dig holes and cut 
grass) called "YES DEAR" Lawn & Home Maintenance Company located in Oak 
Ridge, TN. I am married with three adult children plus John (still at 
home). My wife, Katie and I have four average looking grandchildren (not 
really, they're spectacular!), that we are totally devoted too.   As for 
Morgan's family...they need your prayers.
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  _
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\  /    THUNDER27@aol.com   http://members.aol.com/Thunder27/index.html
/_/  \    "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	



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 suprised 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  (RKaGe@aol.com)    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!
 Video Imagery 
http://members.aol.com/Videoimg/index.html