All of us have been impacted by the economic downturn. Many have lost jobs, or have been forced to take furloughs with loss of income. 401K's have become 101K's. Home equity has been lost. Worries about retirement and current jobs abound. Anxiety has certainly increased about the future for almost everybody. Virtually every family has someone who has taken a major hit.

It may surprise and help us to remember in times like these that Jesus was born as a peasant. His parents fled Palestine and became refugees, immigrating to Egypt because of the violence threatened in his homeland. When the family returned to Israel, they lived in a small village made up of poor, but honorable families in an agrarian peasant culture. Jesus' father, Joseph, worked with his hands to make furniture, repair doors, and build small wooden farm tools.

How odd of God to send his Son to live in poverty. God could have made it so much easier for Jesus. Abraham Lincoln went from the log cabin to the White House, but Jesus went from the White House to the log cabin. But consider what Jesus learned about financial hardships and times of economic distress that remind us how familiar God is with some of the difficulties we are now facing.

God is always the answer to the deepest needs in our life, in times of plenty and in times of want. He knows what it is like to walk in your shoes…and he can help. I want to invite you to visit Diamond Canyon Christian Church and find the greatest resource for living in the whole world—God himself.

               -- Pastor Jim