Get outside your comfort zone!!!

I'm not the most public person. I don't mind being up in front of lots of people, so long as we can talk about what I want to talk about. What I don't want to do is share my thoughts, feelings, and insecurities about myself. I don't want to be vulnerable and let people inside my walls. I would much rather keep other people at arms length.

This is pretty much the opposite of what my life has been the last couple months. Why do I do it? Why are Kendra and I choosing to walk through this journey in such a public matter? The answer is we're hoping and praying that by us sharing what God is doing in our lives we might encourage, inspire, challenge, or lead to Christ someone else.

Just because the outcomes are desirable, doesn't make the process easier. Recently we had an article published about us in the local paper. This is the second article the paper ran on us, the first one was after I spoke at a large Christian concert this summer. Something about what I said connected with the photographer and reporter and they approached the editor to do a follow up feature article.

Greg, the photographer asked if he could follow Kendra and I around for a couple of weeks. He wanted to document our lives. The boring stuff, the cancer stuff, the exciting stuff, and the high definition stuff. I didn't know how I felt about it at first. I knew it would be awkward to have a camera follow me to work, to treatment, at home, and other places. More so I knew this article would be read by 10's of thousands.

Why did I agree to it? Because the benefits outweighed the deficits. Yes it was uncomfortable, but if just one person drew closer to God because they read this article it would be worth it.

Too often we let our comfort determine our behavior. If it is hard or makes me feel awkward we tend to shy away from it. Or maybe we judge how well our faith is going by how comfortable we are. Do we have money in the bank? Nice clothes? Are we all healthy? Then things must be going well.

Unfortunately God doesn't promise that things will be easy, actually He promises that things will be tough, difficult, and that there will be trials. If we never get outside our comfort zone, I don't know if we can be completely obedient to what God is calling us to do. Abraham had to leave his home land, then sacrifice his son. David had to fight a giant. Moses had to go before Pharaoh. Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, and imprisoned. Every one of those people chose obedience over comfort.

What area's of our lives do we need to get outside our comfort zone? It's too easy to never do anything that makes us nervous. Do you need to have a conversation with someone about your faith? Do you need to serve those who don't like you? Do you need to minister to someone who is dirty and difficult to love? Only you know what God is calling you to do.

I can promise you as you're obedient, God will bless. I have been overwhelmed time and time again by the people who approach me to tell me that this blog, or a speech I gave, or a video they saw blessed and inspired them.