Ezra 9:3-15When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.  Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering.  But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garm...  Read More

He Gets Us: Jesus Walked Our RoadsWhat keeps you up all night? What fear endlessly circles in your brain and doesn’t let you rest? You can’t shut off the feelings of dread. You can’t quiet the “what ifs?” Perhaps you’re heartbroken over a failing relationship. Or worried about a mortgage. Or waiting on a diagnosis or facing an impossible choice. The night has never before felt this long or this da...  Read More

He Gets Us: Jesus changed the narrativeSometimes Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations.When he showed up in the first century, people expected him to liberate them from an oppressive government. They expected him to be intimidating and powerful and usher in a new age and way of life. How else do you fight for justice and peace?Instead, Jesus’ approach was upside down. Instead of conquering, he talke...  Read More

He Gets Us: Jesus was a social influencer.Jesus told great stories. More than just for fun, telling stories was his special strategy for driving change. His stories are like a slow drip into our souls; a powerful, subtle way of changing our minds, then our hearts, then inspiring a revolution.Once a whole hillside of people sat for days just listening to Jesus’ stories. Usually Jesus incorporated h...  Read More

He Gets Us: Jesus welcomed women.To be a woman in Jesus’ day meant you were invisible.Outside your home, no man was allowed to talk to you. In the temple, you could observe holy happenings, but never participate. Your witness didn’t count in court, you couldn’t receive an inheritance, you were never taught to read. Your opinion didn’t matter.Jesus broke the chains that held women in bondage. He ta...  Read More

Ezra 9:1-2Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.  For they have taken some of thei...  Read More

He Gets Us: Jesus made friends with his enemiesYou can tell a lot about someone by their choice of friends.If you invited Jesus over for dinner; he came. We read in the Bible about five times he accepted invites and twice when he invited himself--both times to eat with tax collectors and social outcasts.People on the fringes felt comfortable with Jesus, and it made the pious folks feel totally une...  Read More

He Gets Us: Jesus shook things upWhen you turned on your device just now, it likely flashed today’s date. No matter what you believe about Jesus, his life split history into two—the years coming before him (b.c.) and the two thousand plus years that have followed him.If you’ve wondered, why should it matter who someone is from two thousand years ago on the other side of the earth? What difference ...  Read More

Lighthouse 5: DisconnectingWe can get trapped in our heads, stuck in a cycle of anxious thoughts and fears. Those moments can make us feel hopeless, but there’s always a way out. Today, let’s discover how to find peace when we’re drowning in negative thoughts.In some ways, our brain is just like every other part of our body. What we feed it matters. While the food we eat impacts our mental health,...  Read More

Lighthouse 4: Reading ScriptureHolding on to hope can be hard, especially when experiencing mental health challenges. Life might feel chaotic, and that might make it difficult to know how to move forward. Maybe you can’t escape negative self-talk, and you feel yourself sinking into hopelessness.How do you silence your negative thoughts and replace them with life-giving confidence? One of the best ...  Read More

HBC service for January 21st are Canceled ...  Read More

Lighthouse 3: PrayerDoes God hear me? Does He see my pain? And … will He help me? These are common questions, especially for those of us wrestling with our mental health.Verses like this one that we just saw today offer hope:Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 NIVThis tells us that we c...  Read More