[[[[[Out Of The Zone]]]]]
I don’t know where you are right now, but just take a second
and look around. Check out the room or space in which you are sitting. Notice
all of the luxuries and specifications that are in place to make you feel
comfortable? There are probably Light switches, chairs, tables, air
conditioners, heaters, beds, sinks, coffee makers (that one is a must for me!),
computers and hundreds of other possible commodities. Most of these luxuries
are in place to do nothing except create a comfortable environment. Lets just
face it; we love to live in comfort. And honestly there is nothing wrong with
that, I mean—being comfortable is…well it’s just comfortable, right?
Sneaks for Cleats
This
past August I began my seventh and (even though I was unaware of this at the time)
final on-campus semester of Central Bible College. And going into the new
school year I thought this semester would be relatively the same as the other
six semesters that I had completed. After all, I would be living in the same
dorm as usual, I would have the same group of friends that I normally had, I
would hang out at the same places I always had, and I would eat the exact same
meals in the school cafeteria that I had been eating for three years strait. I
really wasn’t expecting too many drastic changes. I was planning for just
another semester in the life. But as
you might have guessed, that is not how this semester has turned out. As it
happened, I was in for serious change of pace.
You
see, every fall for the past 16 years I found myself in preseason conditioning
for the upcoming basketball season. As a kid growing up, basketball was never
even a question. No matter what happened around me, no matter how many
miniature LEGO men that I lost in the couch cushions, no matter how many times
my older brother beat me up, no matter how many times that I wet the bed, no
matter how many times that I went to the principle’s office, no matter how many
of the girls in my class thought that I had cuties, at the end of the day I
always knew that I would have basketball. There were times that I wasn’t even
sure if God was going to let me into heaven, but I still knew that I had
basketball. The sport of basketball was my first love—it was just always there. Well ,when I arrived at
CBC for this semester, that changed. I had made the decision that I was going
to forgo my last year of college basketball and just live the life of a
student. So, no matter what I had previously thought my senior year was going
to look like, it was instantly changed; I knew that until I got used to the
basketball-free life, I might end up being just a little uncomfortable at times.
And if giving up basketball wasn’t enough, I decided to push this change-thing a little bit more. So I did
something even stranger.
A
week after school started, my roommate Justin and I showed up to the CBC
Spartan’s soccer practice. Yes, we
were going to try out for our college soccer team. And yes, we were both wearing basketball shoes because we didn’t own
cleats of any kind. So, for the first two weeks of training, Justin and I ran
around the field looking like two clowns without a clue. And, although I’m not
proud of it, one practice I tried to score a goal and I literally flipped into
the air and landed right on my back like Charlie Brown kicking a football (true
story!). We were not impressive soccer players. But, through an odd chain of
circumstances, which caused several team members to be ineligible for the
season, Justin and I found ourselves in the starting line-up. We had officially
traded our basketball-sneaks for some
soccer-cleats. And for me, this was way out of my comfort-zone. My zone of
comfort had always been behind the three-point line on a basketball-court, not
in front of the 18-yard box of a soccer-field. I was flat out uncomfortable.
During
the first few games of the season I felt that I had made a huge mistake, but
before I knew it, that was changing. As the season went on I started to not
only become a better defender on the soccer-field, but I also started to build
some great new friendships with my teammates. On top of that, I started falling
in love with a new sport, and (despite the blisters) I even got used to wearing
soccer cleats. The team road-trips were also a blast. Some of us were actually
able to take a weekend trip to Kansas City to watch a professional soccer match;
which, by the way, was incredible (Go Sporting KC!).
Being
a part of the soccer team this year was a great experience and I was able to
make some awesome memories. By the end of the season, this fall semester was
already shaping up to be one of my best semesters yet. And it all started when
I allowed myself to step off of the
court and onto the field. When I
allowed myself to venture outside of my
comfort-zone.
Greatness for Comfort
Have
you ever heard of a man named Bjarni Herjolfsson? Yea, I didn’t think so. Well,
let me introduce you to Bjarni. Back in the 10th century there was a
merchant captain from Norway named Bjarni Herjolfsson. In about the year 985
Bjarni took a ship and crew on a sea-voyage to the country of Greenland. While
in rout to Greenland, the ship endured a very violent storm and it caused the
ship to run off-course, leaving Bjarni and his crew lost at sea. After the
storm finally cleared, and while Bjarni and his crew were trying to get back on
course…they saw it—Land! The only problem was, the land that they saw did not look like Greenland. While Greenland
was a land full of glaciers and mountains, the land that lay before Bjarni and
his crew was full of forests and hills. It soon became obvious that this land
was not Greenland. So, Bjarni decided to turn the ship around and head back out
to sea. At this decision Bjarni’s crew pleaded with him not to turn around, but
instead to go and explore this foreign land. So, Bjarni took the crew’s advice—and
threw it overboard. Instead of going just a bit further and getting out of the
boat to explore this unknown land, Bjarni decided to stay in the comfort of his
boat. Never stepping foot on the unknown land.
Little
did Bjarni know, but that land that lay just ahead of his ship was none other
than North America and he was the first European in history to ever lay
eyes on her. Yes, that means that he came before both Leif Ericson and
Christopher Columbus, but guess what? Bjarni Herjolfsson is not the one
credited with discovering North America, simply because he was content to stay
in his comfort zone and he never got out of his boat.1
Now,
I don’t know about you, but if I were Bjarni, that decision would probably be
the biggest regret of my life. I mean, yes Bjarni ended up making it to
Greenland, but he also traded one of the biggest explorations in the history of
the world for the simple comfort of his boat. Imagine how different Bjarni’s
life and the lives of his crew members might have been if he had been willing
to get out of his comfort-zone; If he had been willing to claim that land.
Bjarni Herjolfsson traded greatness for comfort because he was unwilling to get
out of his zone—his comfort-zone!
The Call Is Not Comfortable
Looking
back on some of the changes that happened in my life this semester, and as I
have been studying the lives of people like Bjarni Herjolfsson, it has really
got me thinking, “Man I need to get out of my comfort-zone more often”. And
honestly, it’s the truth. When we get outside of our comfort-zone and take some
chances, great things can happen, great relationships can form and great
opportunities can arise. Living below
the level of comfort can lead to living an above
average life. And, in my opinion, the most important aspect of our lives that
needs to be lived outside of the comfort-zone is our spiritual life.
Now,
maybe you can’t relate to this. Or maybe this challenge has never hit you like
it has been hitting me lately. However, I know that for me personally, I have
got to live a life outside of my spiritual comfort-zone. If I am truly going to
be who God has called me to be, if I am going to go where God wants me to go,
and if I am going to accomplish what God has ordained for me to accomplish, I
absolutely positively have to live a life of spiritual uncomfortably. And guess
what? I would bet that the same goes for you, whether you realize it or not.
Something
that God has been revealing to me, and something that I believe is an obvious
theme throughout the Bible is this: Living
inside the perfect will of God, means living outside the zone of perfect comfort.
You see, God isn’t calling us to be comfy
and cozy, God is calling us to be obedient and holy. And, let me just tell you, that is very uncomfortable at
times!
Just
look throughout scripture and you will find that when God gives the call, it is
not a call to comfort. In Genesis we see God call Abraham and Sarai to pack up
and leave their homeland with no clear directions. And later he asked Abraham
to sacrifice his only son—Uncomfortable.2 In I Samuel we see God
tell Samuel to anoint a teenager to be Israel’s next king. And then God tells that teenager to kill a giant with a
sling—Uncomfortable.3 In Jonah we see God call a fearful man to go
preach to God-haters—Uncomfortable.4 In Matthew God tells Joseph to
marry a girl who has just been found to be pregnant with the Holy Spirit’s
baby—Uncomfortable.5 In Acts we see Jesus call Saul to stop hurting
Christians. Then he becomes Paul and ends
up being hurt countless times for being a Christian himself—Uncomfortable.6 And this list could go on and on for
pages. See, being in God’s will usually means being uncomfortable. The call is not comfortable. However, we
cannot let this fact deter us. No matter how many times we have or haven’t done
uncomfortable things for God in the past, we have can still get uncomfortable now.
Three Dudes
There
are many times in scripture that God has called someone to get out of his or
her spiritual comfort zone, but there are two examples, describing three dudes,
that I want us to look at specifically.
Dude Number-One: We find the first dude in the tenth chapter of the book of Mark . His story goes like this:
17As Jesus started on his
way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he
asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
After
a few more words are exchanged between Jesus and this dude, we then get to
verse 21.
21Jesus
looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said, “Go, and sell everything
you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come
follow me.”
22At
this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.7
Dudes Number-two and three: We meet the second and third dude in the fourth chapter of the book of Matthew. Their story goes like this:
18As Jesus was walking
beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his
brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19”Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of
men.” 20At once they left their nets and followed him.8
Now,
do you see what I’m getting at? The first dude was obviously very wealthy, and
he most likely lived a comfortable life.
But then, the son of God asked him to get out of his comfort-zone by
sell his possessions, giving to the poor, and following Him. Yet, the rich dude
refused to do it. And, as you might know, we never hear from this dude again.
He falls off the biblical-map. While we have no idea what became of him, I will
tell you this, there is no way that his life ended up being more meaningful
than the life that Jesus had offered him that day. He refused to leave his
comfort-zone and in turn, he left the calling of a lifetime sitting on the
shelf. Does that sound appealing to you? It sure doesn’t sound appealing to me.
On
the other hand however, we have two other dudes who were asked to make a very
similar sacrifice—and they made it.
Peter
and Andrew were obviously running a successful fishing business. They were
living lives that rested in their comfort-zone, on the lake, with the fish.
Then, this Jesus guy walks up and asks them to throw their current lives and
careers away to come follow him. In our day, this would be like someone walking
up to your desk at work and saying, “Hey, I know that you are comfortable here
selling life-insurance to some fine folks, but why don’t you leave this behind
and come follow me? I will make you an eternal-life-insurance
salesman. You won’t even have to charge the customers any money”. And then you
proceed to get up and just leave your career sitting on that desk which you had
been sitting at for years. Sounds really uncomfortable, right?
You
see, unlike the first dude that I mentioned, the other two dudes were willing to get out of their
spiritual and physical comfort-zones. Those dudes gave up their personal comfort
for the call of God, and they ended up leading extraordinary lives. They ended
up being in Jesus’ inner circle. They ended up witnessing the greatest life in
the history of the world. Their lives have ended up reaching billions of people
for the cause of Christ. Even in generations long after their lives here on
earth. These dudes gave up comfort and were given greatness through Christ in
return. That sounds like a fair trade to me.
So Get Out
My
challenge to you in all of this is that you would be motivated to step outside
of your spiritual comfort-zone and do some new things for God. The Lord has
ridiculous opportunities for us, and a crazy-cool plan for each one of our
lives, but in order to see some of those opportunities and plans come to pass,
it might take us getting out of our comfortable life-style.
This
is an area in which God has been challenging me all semester. And it is
something that I have to submit to daily. One of the ways that I got out of my
spiritual comfort-zone this past semester was by joining a homeless ministry at
Central Bible College. The ministry is called Unity in the Community. All semester long it has been ministering
to the homeless families in downtown Springfield. It definitely hasn’t been
comfortable but it has been obedient.
And obedience is much more fulfilling than comfort.
Now
this may look different for everyone, however I do believe that we are all
called to get out of our spiritual comfort-zone and do abnormal things for God.
For you this may mean getting involved in a local youth group as a youth
leader. Or maybe it means volunteering at a local homeless shelter or soup
kitchen. Maybe it means waking up thirty-minutes earlier to get some prayer and
devotions in before work. Maybe it means keeping a prayer journal or starting a
blog. Maybe this means giving God some extra cash next month. Maybe this means
inviting your coworkers and family members to church. Maybe this means calling
an old friend or family member and forgiving them. Or maybe this just means
getting back in church or attending church consistently. Whatever your
spiritual comfort-zone is right now, find the courage to get out of it. Trust
me, it is well worth it. Something that I have found to be true in my life is
this: When my level of spiritual intimacy
with God is very high, my level of comfort usually isn’t.
I
have to constantly remind myself not be like Bjarni Herjolfsson who refused to
get out of his boat. Or the rich young dude who refused to sell his
possessions. But to instead to be like Peter and Andrew, who left their
comfortable lives to pursue the call of God. And to Instead be willing to
continuously trade my spiritual sneaks for some spiritual cleats. And that is
my challenge to you as well: Just try something new. I dare you! In fact I double-dog dare you! Get out of your
spiritual comfort-zone and see how God will use you for his kingdom.
If
we refuse to step out of our comfort-zones,
we will not be able to step into God’s
calling!
Peace
Love
God Bless
Cited Sources
1. Beyer, Rick. "10th Century." The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, & Stupefy. New York: Harper Resources, 2003. N. page. Print.
2. Genesis 12:1-9, 22:2 (NIV)
3. 1 Samuel 16-17 (NIV)
4. Jonah 1:1-2 (NIV)
5. Matthew 1:18-20 (NIV)
6. Acts 9:1-18, 2 Corinthians 11:23-29 (NIV)
7. Mark 10:17-22 (NIV)
8. Matthew 4:18-20 (NIV)
Photos
1. http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=477300
2. http://austinwestlake.blogspot.com/
3. http://www.thebricktestament.com/