Surrender

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind here at CLC. It all started with Trunk or Treat on Thursday. This is always a super fun night, and this year was no exception. We welcomed hundreds of people from the community to our church, and everyone had a blast joining in the festivities and eating lots of candy. After 8:00pm most of the people went home, but our youth group continued the celebration with a lock-in and a trip to Disneyland! This always makes for a super long day, but I was blessed to see the abundance of God.

I saw new relationships form and children and youth find a safe place to celebrate together as a church. I saw youth deepening their relationships to one another and learning more about the love of Christ. I believe God provides opportunities for each of these blessings everyday, but we are often too wrapped up in our own world to embrace them. Sometimes we do not want to invest in a new relationship, and we can be scared of meeting someone new. However, if we surrender our preconceived notions, and we let go of our desire to make things happen our way, then Christ always brings new blessings. There may be exhausting and difficult moments, but God is there.

We are going to be starting a new sermon series this month entitled, "I surrender." This series will take a look all the ways we get in our own way. We wind up carrying too many burdens and too much pain. We often don't realize that we are being held back by all the false idols that promise to fulfill our every need. We will be asking what our lives would look like if we let go and opened ourselves to something greater. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28–30

Today I hope we can all take a small step toward surrender. I hope we can take a look at our burdens and start to let them go. Let's embrace a new journey with Christ!

Peace,

Brian