Feeling a bit stressed out these days?  If so, you’re not alone.

The average desk worker in America has 36 hours of work on their desk, and they spend three hours a week just sorting out the piles.  The average middle manager is interrupted 73 times a day.

On average, we spend eight months of our lives opening junk mail.  We spend one year searching for misplaced objects…when the average misplaced object has been moved only 10 inches from its original place.  More than 25 million Americans are on Prozac.  Credit card debt is at the highest level ever, with consumer debt currently standing in the trillions.

In 1850, the average person slept nine-and-a-half hours per night. Now, thanks to electricity, the figure is seven hours per night and declining.  A long-term study has recently found that people who sleep 6.5 to 8 hours per night throughout their lives live longer than those who don’t.  There are 70 million people with sleep disorders.

So, to boil it all down.  Most of us are tired, broke, and way too busy.  We’re stressed out!

I’m starting a six-week sermon series on Sunday called Stress: Dealing with the Causes and Overcoming the Symptoms. In it, I’ll address several of the main causes of stress and offer insights from the Bible on how to overcome symptoms of stress like anger, anxiety, and escape.

What was it that allowed Jesus to survive and be filled with joy in the midst of being so stressed that he sweat blood?  What was it that enabled Paul – who lived most of his adult life drowning in stress – to say that he had learned to be content in the midst of all the stress?

That’s what I want to find out, and I invite you to find out along with me.  If you live in Albuquerque, please join me for worship each Sunday morning at 9AM.  If you live outside Albuquerque, then I invite you to listen online each week at www.thefoothills.us.