This is a Salaback Church podcast.

Today is going to be a bit different of service for us. We were planning this weekend. Stacey was

going to deliver the message leading us into the Immersed Challenge, which kicks off next week.

Now, if you weren't here last week or here last year

at this time, the immersed challenge is where we read through the Bible together at the beginning

of the year to kind of set our hearts and really build a new habit at the beginning of the year

of getting God's word, getting the Bible, into our hearts, and into our minds. We're still going to

do that. That kicks off next weekend, and so you can join and be a part of that

today at all of our campuses. You can pick up your Bible that we're going to give to you, that we're

going to journey together. That's free just as a blessing to you so you can pick that up. But you all

know this has been a crazy week, particularly here in Southern California. We're in one of the greatest crisis of modern history, catastrophe.

So many people in our communities around our campuses here have been impacted. We have a campus in South Bay, which is Torrance.

We have a campus up in L.A. We also have a campus in Whittier. All of them have people who have been displaced, some who've lost homes.

All of us know somebody that's been impacted.

And if you're not in Southern California, all of us have moments of crisis that we walk through.

Times where we have a lot of questions about the challenges that we face around us in our world.

And today I want to take a moment to just pause our regular programming as a church

and just recognize that there's a lot of pain and grief that so many people are experiencing today,

right now, in this moment.

This last week I was on a trip.

I go every year at the beginning of the year on a prayer and study break,

so I prepare for the year and seek God's heart, trying to get fresh vision for my life,

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