By Dee Yaccino

The birth of any child is an amazing thing. I remember the events surrounding all four of my children. And I know that if you ask any mother to recount the story of the birth of her children, she will usually be willing and able to tell you all about it–in great detail. I love hearing those stories. I love telling my stories.

You can also ask any mother who is in the last month of pregnancy how she is and she will probably say, “I am ready to have this baby!” I remember when I was in the last month of pregnancy all I could think about was the birth. I would wake up asking myself, is today the day? And I would go to bed thinking maybe tonight is the night…there was such an expectancy. I felt like I was waiting forever. And everybody knows it is hard to wait for anything. It is especially hard to wait for something that you want to happen so badly…like the birth of a new little life.

That waiting—that expectancy is what I want to talk about this Christmas season because we are focused on the birth of Jesus. And if there was ever a birth that was highly anticipated it was His.
Prophets of the people of Israel had been predicting it for centuries. All of the people of Israel had been waiting for the birth of the “Messiah” or King who would deliver them for a long, long time. It was the birth announcement people were waiting for that was as popular in that time as it is to wait for the birth announcement of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s babies today.

The difference is that as excited as we become at the birth of famous babies (or really any baby for that matter), the Messiah’s birth was not the mere announcement of the arrival of a new life into this world. That is, even though wise men and astronomers had been predicting the time and place of the birth of this “King” from the line of David which was to be accompanied by strange signs and wonders and the appearance of a huge star in the sky, and even though the events surrounding the birth of the Messiah were amazing—even miraculous–that is not what made it important.

Jesus’ birth was important because of who He is.
(more…)

By Guest Blogger: Adele Calhoun

I have heard people say that the most important thing in life is what we think about ourselves.  For example, if we think we are a piece of junk we will act like a piece of junk.  This is true and it is important.  But infinitely more important than what we think about ourselves is what God thinks of us. The Bible is raw and honest.  God is raw and honest.  So, no one needs to be dressed up and on his or her best behavior to make a connection with God.

You were a twinkle in God’s eye before there was anything. Before the creation of the world God chose you. God had all the time in the world to have said, “I know what this person will be like, and I don’t really want them around.  I think I’ll make someone else.”  So, the very fact that you are here means God spoke your name.  He said, “Let there be…you.”  He made you and knows you and He has said you are “very good.”  God even went so far as to brand your name on his hand.  The book of Isaiah says God has a tattoo across His chest with your name on it (49:16).

God created everything. He made novas and dolphins; butterflies and the sea; and these things are wonderful, good things.  But none of them are stamped with God’s image.  None of them have personality, and language, and creativity, and intelligence, and freedom to choose – like God. 

Only men and women can do these things.  Only men and women are able to be more like God than even the angels or seraphim.  It is men and women who are “fearfully and wonderfully made” in God’s own image (Psalm 139).  In fact, God looks at us and sees Himself.  We are not junk.  Before God, we (both men and women) have equal value and worth.  Like an artist delights in his work, or a parent delights in a child, God looks at us and loves us.  There is nothing we can do to make God love us more.  And there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. 

In Jesus’ day people had forgotten what God said about how much men and women matter.   Women were treated like property.  They didn’t count.  They couldn’t testify in a court.  They couldn’t worship with men, or be educated like men.  Women couldn’t have men friends.  And a really “holy” man would never make eye contact with a woman, let alone touch her in public.  In fact, there was a group of men who were so committed to not looking at women that they put their eyes down whenever they saw women in the street.  Consequently, they hurt and cut themselves running into walls.  People called them “bleeding Pharisees.”

But consider Jesus.  (more…)