Tuesday, November 8, 2022
Tuesday: The Uncomfortable Zone
November 8, 2022
A couple of decades ago, my family and I went to Riverside Park in Findlay during Easter Holy Week to see an artist working on a sand sculpture of Christ on the cross. His work was amazing!
He had a couple of people helping him with chores, but the sculpting was all him. As I talked with him and complimented him on his work, I felt a strong nudging from God to ask if he needed any help. He told me he could always use some people to shovel sand if I was interested.
I am not an artist by any remote means of the word, never claimed to be, nor will I ever be. I don’t know what I was expecting him to ask me to help with. The idea of shoveling sand in rainy, chilly, early spring weather in Ohio, did not appeal to me, so I politely put the invitation aside. Besides, he seemed to be doing just fine without me.
To make a long story short, the following Easter, we went back to see the sculpture again, and again, I felt a calling to help. This time when he invited me to grab a shovel, I accepted.
Moving the sand was hard work, especially in bad weather. It was not glamorous by any means, but as we worked, I talked with the artist and got to know his heart and passion. We became good friends. Eventually, after several years of shoveling tons of sand, he taught me how to make realistic looking rocks and boulders in the sand.
My first efforts were complete failures and looked like thick pancakes slapped against a wall. But eventually, with some kind guidance from my artist friend, I became pretty good. Eventually, he trusted me to do almost all the rocks in the display, which grew every year over the 10 years I had the honor of helping him.
I met many people who visited the sculpture during those years. I even had the honor of helping lead several to Christ.
The point of this story is that sometimes God brings us to places that don’t seem thrilling or purposeful, like shoveling tons of sand. But if we trust his calling instead of succumbing to our own desires for glory, he will take us to places we could never have imagined.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
In Top Gun: Maverick, Maverick also found himself in a situation that, in his eyes, didn’t seem at all thrilling or purposeful. He was given orders to teach a mission to other, younger pilots, when all he really wanted to do was fly the mission himself.
The Bible gives us many similar examples. God ordered Noah to build a huge ship in the middle of a desert and Moses to travel to Egypt and tell Pharoah to release all his Jewish slaves. Abraham was ordered by God to offer up his only son as a sacrifice. In these and many other circumstances, God called people to perform unpleasant tasks that seemed to lack purpose. But because of their faith, they listened to God and obeyed his calling.
The result?
They are some of the great heroes of the Bible that we, as Christians, admire to this day.
Questions:
What uncomfortable zone might God be calling you to step into today?
Will you trust God and follow his call, or will you let your own feelings lead the way?
Next Steps:
If you haven’t seen it, watch the movie Top Gun: Maverick to see a modern example of where stepping into an uncomfortable calling can lead you.
Keep yourself open to any and all possibilities God may be leading you to.
If you haven’t already, sign up for our special LIO Flash Fiction series that parallels the movie theme each week by texting FICTION to 419-419-0707.
Prayer:
Father, I trust that you have a specific purpose for me in your plans. I understand the places you lead me may not be in my comfort zone or seem thrilling or purposeful to me. Help me to trust your will and not my own when you call me outside my comfort zone. Give me the wisdom to seek your guidance as I follow the path you would have me walk. In Jesus’ name. Amen.