| Abandoned coins are something we have all encountered along our journey through life. Coins found on the sidewalk, in parking lots, along street curbs, or even those found hopelessly abandoned in busy intersections marred almost beyond recognition. Many women today are like those battered coins. They too have been scratched and dulled. They feel alone and run over. Some even have become so bent and broken that they see themselves as utterly worthless. They believe the lies they have been told. They believe that their past has destroyed any value they once had. Yet if we brought a marred coin to a bank, we would receive the full value of the coin regardless of its condition. The one who holds the coin determines its value. And in God's eyes, regardless of a past that has in some way broken our spirits, or bent our emotions, or battered the "little girl" inside, He too sees our full, precious value… | |  EPHESIANS 2:4-9 (ESV) "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." | | | | I am a little red-faced and anxious that underneath all my thoughts of Advent, I feel guilty that there is no fa-la-la-la-la anywhere. No "Here's how to have a Merry Christmas" hints, fail-safe, time-tested, and photo-shoot ready. But I have to remember: the holidays have turned into a trumped-up excuse to spend money, gain weight, help retailers, and try to make up for what we haven't given people all year long, or maybe all their lives long. The holidays have become a great attempt at atonement for our deficits with others and maybe our deficits with our souls. To find the Messiah, we probably need not look under the tree. Recently, I jotted a list from memory of the advent characters: Herod, Zechariah, Gabriel, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, John, wise men, shepherds, angels, Simeon, and Anna. And only after mulling over this cast for the story called advent for about a day, did I realize: I forgot Jesus. I forgot the Christ child…. | | | Here's the thing about labels; you hear them and after some swirling and churning in your head, you find they can stick like super glue to your personhood. "Good for nothing, stupid, ugly, fat, privileged, poor, white-trash, high class, lazy, worthless, useless," you fill in the blank. Speaking of labels, have you ever heard of Rahab? She is the famous harlot who was responsible for hiding the Israelite spies sent by Joshua to scope out the Promised Land in Joshua chapter two. Without Rahab, there was no collapsing of the walls of Jericho and there was no Israelite stake thrust in that covenant ground. But there is something else about Rahab, she knew a thing or two about labels. She's a harlot, yes. But she's so much more than that. And she, like so many of us, had to figure out a way to climb out of the scandalous gutter that other people's labels and expectations had thrown her into. Here are just a few lessons she teaches us… | | Just in time for the Christmas season! Are you joyfully anticipating Christmas, or do the myriad of activities and busyness of the season steal your Christmas cheer? Has loss or disappointment been weighing heavily upon you? As we wait in expectant hope for the celebration of our Savior's birth, all of us at Just Between Us would like to encourage you by helping your faith to flourish during this Advent season.  | | | | |
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