You know the story of David and Goliath. Goliath thought he was too big to hit and David thought Goliath was too big to miss! So…David rocked Goliath’s world. Check out the story in 1 Samuel 17. David was told he was too little and Goliath was too big. David changed the field of battle when he said: “I come to you in the Name of the LORD”. The rest, as they say is history.
Why take on the giants in our community? Because it is our community, it is the LORD’s community. JIBC has a great history of taking on some of the largest challenges in our community. Mental Health illness is a giant. There are 59 million adults with mental illness That is 23% of the population. Over 42 million adults have anxiety disorders and 31% of those have had anxiety disorders for most of their lifetime. Addiction affects 46 million adults in the United States. Major depression affects 4.8 million youth. That is almost 20% of youth. Mental Health America makes these stats known. If interested you can keep learning more and more. This is a BIG GIANT and you are taking it on at the Festival of Hope this Saturday, May 17.
Our goal is to help remove the stigma of mental health disease and raise the awareness of addiction-substance use disorders. The two of them often go together. The substance abuse is often used to self -medicate the pain and problems created by the mental health disease.
We have gathered over 35 Vendors of Hope that offer help to anyone interested in Mental Health and addiction; to anyone needing resources to help; to anyone needing to network with others with like-minded missions. Doing this in a family friendly environment is one way to help remove the stigma. Families can come and enjoy good music, good food, fun inflatables and meet over 35 Vendors of Hope working to make our community better…to fight some of the giants.
By the way, who was the greatest babysitter in the Bible? David of course. He rocked Goliath to sleep! Just remember if God puts a Goliath in front of you, He must believe there is a David inside of you! Thanks for being a church family that takes on the giants. I love you all!
Pastor Tom
