We've received great reports from youth group who are at Challenge this week! Good attitudes, good outreach projects, openness to letting the Word make a real difference in their lives. I'm looking forward to hearing stories from the full week after they return.
One of the events that our youth participated in was offering to pray with people who passed by them on the street. Apparently, it was a great experience - even though the thought of it must have been nerve-wracking at first. But, they jumped in, and saw God move in the lives of people. They were taken beyond their "comfort zone" - that space in which we feel comfortable and safe.
You've heard dozens of times "go beyond your comfort zone," whether in church, in business, or in school. It's a challenge to venture beyond that boundary between safe and risky, between comfortable and unsure. Jesus continually challenged people to step out of their comfort zones. You cannot come to Christ in faith without leaving your comfort zone, and you cannot serve the mission He has for you without passing that border.
But I prefer a different phrase than "go beyond your comfort zone." I would rather challenge you to "expand your comfort zone." Not only go beyond the borders, but then extend those borders! Bust through them as Jesus challenges us to, but then change them. Once you do something like praying with a total stranger, rather than retreat back into your same ol' comfort zone, redraw the boundaries to now include things like praying with total strangers.
Call it "gerrymandering for Christ"! Change your borders to include more and more of the things Christ wants us to do in your new, improved comfort zone. Stretch, but don't forget to then grow!
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