Out Of The Comfort Zone

"Now The LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house into a land I will show you." (Genesis 12:1)

When I was in Jr. High and early High School, I can remember reading stories of missionaries like Jim Elliott.  Stories of people going into  the remotest places on earth to share the gospel with people who had never even heard of Jesus. In my mind's eye I could see them, machete in one hand, Bible in the other, narrowly escaping death time and time again to bring the Word of God to the world.  It was souped up Christianized version of Indiana Jones.  It all seemed terribly exciting and, I thought, the life for me.

Eventually reality set in.  I realized that Jim Elliott died as a missionary, killed by the very people he was trying to help.  But also my temperament is simply not the make up of a good missionary.  I admit it, I am okay with comfort. My vacation dreams have never consisted of me in a tent on a remote mountain. Ever. I enjoy the technology I have at my finger tips.  I said enjoy, not addicted, no matter what other people say.  I can quit at any time.  I also like my routine and have never suffered well those people or situations that disturb my routine.  None of which exactly makes for a good missionary, at least in the traditional sense.

So how did I find myself slogging through the mud in Mexico on a mission trip this past weekend?  In part because I was asked. Two dear friends of mine were heading up a medical mission and wanted to know if I would be willing to go along as the spiritual director of the team. It would involve working at the clinic in some capacity, being with the people who come, and leading worship along with whatever other pastoral duties I could come up with. And because they are dear friends I said yes. Twice.

So this past weekend I found myself in a strange place sleeping on a foam mattress, with little access to communication at certain times of the day.  The community had been affected by recent storms along the coasts. Certainly nowhere to the degree of other communities. But it had rained for almost three weeks, turning the local dirt roads into a muddy nightmare of travel.

It's an important mission.  We helped many people and were even able to do a few house calls in the process.  We helped some people who hadn't had any health care in their area for years.  They were incredibly gracious.  But for all of that, and the good it did, I will admit there were times when I wondered, why me? I'm not trained for anything medical.  I don't have that "I love roughing it" mindset. So why has God called me twice to do such mission trips?

Precisely because it is a situation in which I am not comfortable.  I believe it is when God calls us out of the familiar, out of our comfort zone that we experience His presence the most.  Our greatest moments of growth spiritually come when we are willing to step out from the familiar into the unknown  and trust that God will catch us.  It's only when we reach those moments where we are both positive God has called us, and sure he has called the wrong person but go anyway that we most experience His grace in life.

This is a recurrent theme in the Old Testament.  God calls ordinary people out of their comfort zones and then does extraordinary things to them and through them. God calls Abram out of Ur. Is Abram a godly man before this? Certainly that's why God calls him.  But if you read his story there is no doubt we see an incredible change in Abram when he steps away form his homeland.

We see this when God calls Ruth to go with her mother in law to Israel. She is a strange woman in a strange land.  Yet God causes great things to happen because she does. Amos, Jeremiah, even Moses are all positive God has the wrong person when He calls them.  Yet they trust Him. And when they go out of their comfort zone God does a mighty work.

At some point in your life, God is going to call you out of your comfort zone. He is going to ask you to step out of the familiar and into the unknown. It could be an invitation to go on a mission trip. It could be a move to a new area. It might be a change in your life circumstances, a new job or relationship.  Will it be a new ministry? Might it simply be a calling on your heart to let go of some old sins and ways of looking at the world because God has something new for you?

Who knows?  I certainly don't. Live long enough and it's probably all of the above. God never tires of calling us out into unfamiliar territory.  He calls. You answer. And soon that new territory becomes familiar territory, and so God calls you again a little further out or in a new direction where all you have to rely on is Him.  Why? Because He loves us.  He sees gifts and graces in you that you can't see because your eyesight is clouded by the familiar.  He wants you to be in a place where you must trust and rely on God because He is all you have.

I don't know where God will call you, only that He will. I hope you answer and go.  If we stay where we are we will always be who we are and not who God has designed us to be. So get ready. God will call you. Will you listen? Will you go?

In Christ,

Rev. Dr. Brian Jones <><