Holiday Greetings from Hockinson Living Hope! WOW what a great prison Break series. I was full of compassion as I was praying over all the pain and regrets left on post-it notes at the foot of the cross last Sunday. I am honored to be part of a church that responds to God's touch on their hearts. Freedom always costs us something, our pride, our forgiveness, our rights, or as Pastor John Bishop puts it "what ever consumes you". We all desire to stay out of prison, but some how find our selves locked up over issues of our heart. When my son was about six years old, he asked the profound question "How do people become bank robbers?" Out of some where I answered "One day at a time and one choice at a time". I also tried to explain the "frog in boiling water" theory, which being a boy, he did like that theory better. Some how his questions always effected me more than it did him. I found that it is easy to get comfortable with our heart issues, and not deal with them. But in the end, everyone can see and feel your pain but you. It is hard to give away what we don't possess, and freedom is no exception. Proverbs 4:23 says "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do". The best way I have found to stay out of prison is to guard my heart with God's truth and grace. Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season(and my freedom). Pastor Jon Andersen

I am very excited about the new series "Prison Break". When you think of prison, you think of confined, guilty, alone, and rejected by society. It is a funny thing, you don't even need to commit a crime to find yourself locked up and living the life of a prisoner and never setting foot in a penitentiary. Between the enemy and ourselves standing guard at the cell, there doesn't seem like much chance of getting free, from the guilt, shame, and sin in our lives. The fact is, that when we are Christ followers the real sin is not believing that Christ's blood is not capable of truly setting us free. There are a lot miss conceptions about sin, even in Christian circles. Some hold on to their pain and sin as a crutch to lean or fall back on as to gain sympathy, some see pain of the past as their best friend, in the midst of an argument they can pull it out and use it as ammunition against the ones they love the most. Sin always is always about me, my and I. If you read Genesis those words me, my and I do not appear until after the fall of mankind (Genesis 3:10). The only need Jesus had was to be close to the Father, everything else was about others. God is enough for my every need and every sin, and all my pain. Believing anything less keeps me locked up in prison with only my sin to keep me company. Satan may be the guard at your prison door, but God is the warden, go to the source to get free! "Only God" holds the keys to our prison door, we can be set free today!!! Romans 8:1-2, Invite someone this weekend to experience true freedom! Pastor Jon Andersen