Livin' The Sweet Life - Way Too Heavy

Do you worry? I know I do. I shouldn’t but I do. I worry about all kinds of things. I worry about majors like my health (I know, I know it’s hard to tell), and gas prices (up a quarter, down a dime…grrr), to the somewhat less significant like whether or not I’m going to get to Chile Rojo (what exactly happened to Verde) before they close, (I just love their white cheese dip). It really doesn’t seem to matter if it’s something small or large, monumental or trivial. Waaaaay too often I catch myself doing it, over focusing and stressing as the anxiety builds slowly within; dredging up that subtle feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. The same questions repeat in my head. How am I going to figure this out? What am I going to do?

Do you ever feel like this? Unfortunately, I think we all do at some point and time, it’s pretty much part of being a human with human emotions. Which begs the question, “Why do we worry so much?” Have you ever stopped to think about that? What’s at the root of all this worry? You know the answer, is really pretty simple and as a Christian it’s an answer that’s right there with you the entire time. It’s all about surrender. All too often we try to carry the full load of burdens by ourselves, but they are way too heavy. We forget or sometimes just refuse to ask for help.

Control is one of the most difficult aspects of ourselves to give over to Jesus Christ. Being directly in charge of our personal and environmental direction helps keep us comfortable. If we know exactly how, why, when, what, and where then we can have peace, right? Wrong! For some reason that just doesn’t seem to work does it. No matter how much control we have we still find things to worry about, don’t we. You know why? Could it be that we are trying so hard to do things and control things with our own strength that we have forgotten that we are supposed to cast our cares upon Jesus.

Psalm 55:22 says Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Wow He will sustain me, how awesome is that. Nothing is more liberating than throwing off the weight and burden of worry and relying wholeheartedly on His promise. He won’t let me fall.

The Bible says, in 1 Samuel 2:9 He will guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. "For by strength no man shall prevail. You know the truth is that through my strength alone I can do very little, in fact most of the time when I’ve tried to do things all on my own I just end up getting myself in bigger messes. It’s not until I reach my wits end and finally admit that I can’t do it and I lay it at the feet of Jesus and cry “Help!” that He shoulders that burden and carries it with me. I know then that it’s ok. The almighty creator of the universe isn’t about to slip and let it fall on me. If He could carry the weight of all mans sins he can certainly carry my concern over retirement savings. And that’s just it God wants us to rely on Him fully no matter what. Nothing is too small, absolutely nothing. We have to say, “God, I need help, I’m surrendering this to you, you are in control.”

Love ya'll,

Darin

Livin’ The Sweet Life – Love Immeasurable

Hi, just wanted to send out a note of encouragement to everyone and let you know some exciting things that are coming up with The Sweet Life Fellowship. Before I get into announcements, I want to briefly talk about what God is doing in our ministry. You know, I’m reading a book right now called “Revolution”, by George Barna. If you have never heard of George Barna, he is a highly respected expert on church growth trends and cultural behavior. In the book, Barna writes about the character of Christ during His ministry on earth and shares insight into Jesus’ status as a revolutionary. I wanted to mention one particular point that made me think a little deeper and thank God a little harder for His perfect love, and for The Sweet Life Fellowship.

You know it’s amazing if you stop and think, no one who has ever lived throughout all of time has ever influenced so many people and changed the course of so many lives as Jesus Christ. Not a single bullet fired, not a life taken but only a life given. Christ’s message was so simple that a child could nestle in His lap and fully understand it, yet required so much sacrifice that it’s impossible for the greatest intellects of our world to fully grasp it. Jesus Christ, being both man and God could have easily with one word done away with an entire army of persecutors and naysayers. But he didn’t. Christ overcame all that this world could throw at Him, the taunts, the name calling, the questioning, you name it. And the awesome thing is He did it all to follow His perfect, simple mission, to love God and to love people.

You know it strikes me at just how blessed we are that Jesus loved us so much and it is so exciting that God is giving us this unique opportunity with The Sweet Life Fellowship to share His simple message with the community and world around us. Looking at it closely it makes me want to do everything I can to be Christ like in my life. You know Jesus modeled acceptance so perfectly. He didn’t approach people with prejudice, presupposition or pride he saw needs and he met them. He delivered truth, healing, comfort, peace, and joy to every life he touched. He lifted burdens and exalted God. Whether feeding thousands on a hillside with fishes and loaves or quietly healing a desperate soul with but a touch of His garment. Jesus revealed His immeasurable love to the community and the world around Him. I look so forward in the days ahead to finding unique and revolutionary ways to do our best to be like Jesus as we go and share that love with our community and world by loving God and loving people.

I want to hear you guys’ thoughts on this too please email me, or comment on The Sweet Blog located at www.lifesosweet.com. If you haven’t checked out the website yet please do. There you can read about the vision of The Sweet Life Fellowship as well as check out some crazy photos from our events, you can also read and respond to blog postings and find out what we’re going to be doing next on our “What’s Comin’ Up!” calendar of events. I also want to point out the banner that sits at the top of every page on our website where you may submit a public or private prayer request. The Bible says in Matthew 18:19-20 that God is right there with us when we pray together in His name.

Matthew 18
19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
God has given us many tools to help us through our life journey but one of the greatest and one that should never be overlooked is that direct line of communication we have to our heavenly Father through prayer. God loves us and He loves to talk with us. Nothing touches His heart more than when we stop everything else and start talking to Him and nothing is more encouraging to us than when we are joined by our brothers and sisters in Christ who love us and want only the best for us. So make sure that you use that link so that we can join our prayers with you.

Love ya’ll,

Darin

Man! That Shrimp Was Salty!

In Matthew 5:13 the Bible says that as believers in Christ, we are to be "the salt of the earth" or the seasoning that flavors this world for our Father. Tuesday night (Shrimp Night at The Mayflower) was a flavor packed evening of food, fun and great times. The Sweet Life Fellowship gathered Tuesday Night and how awesome it was to see God growing our relationships and drawing people from all walks and ages together to get to know and to encourage each other in faith. God showed up in a big way and we had tons of new faces and names to learn. We can't wait to get to know you all even better and to become part of each others lives. It's so awesome to see God growing this community of joy and using us to reach the world around us with a big ole shaker of salt.

SHRIMP NIGHT - The Sweet Life Fellowship

Hello everyone, just wanted to drop you a quick reminder inviting you all to The Sweet Life Fellowship Tuesday night hosted at The Mayflower Restaurant (in the meeting/party room). Come on out and enjoy Shrimp Night with us. It starts at 6:30PM but folks can come anytime after that and for all you folks like me who don't like shrimp, they have delicious chicken and hushpuppies as well...yummmmm!

Hope to see you all there!!!