Today was one of those long, mundane days that have to be done once a month before we get ready to leave and move on to the next adventure. That’s right, it was a cleaning and packing day! By the end of it, all I really wanted was a nice hot shower to shave my furry legs and to just feel clean. My expectations weren’t that high though. Once this month the water went out mid shower and I had to rub all the soap off me with a towel, and another time the water was as cold as ice with no signs of warming up. As I hopped in and turned the knob expecting the frigid water to hit my skin, I was pleasantly surprised with a steady flow of room temperature water— lucky day! I washed my hair and soaped my legs and got ready to turn the water off as I shaved my fur when all of a sudden the power goes out. This is actually quite a normal occasion here. The power goes out at least 3 times a day and sometimes stays out for hours on end. Now, if I was thinking smart I would have had my phone in the bathroom with me for some light; however, I have only been here a month and am not quite as prepared for the power outages as the locals. That being said, the power outage was nothing new and it honestly didn’t really faze me. I accepted the challenge as I began shaving in the dark and finished my shower leaving with inspiration to write this blog.
Now, this could go many different directions. I could talk about all the small things we take for granted in America, hot water, clean water, water for days, ample amounts of electricity at our disposal…the list could go on and on and it would make for a great story about how good many of us have it and how thankful we should be. I could also go the eco friendly route and remind everyone to be good stewards of the things the Lord has given us, but that wasn’t my take away either. What the Lord consistently has placed on my heart the past couple of months is this idea of comfort zones.
Each month I pack my bags and head into a new unknown. Each unknown has its own pleasant and many times unpleasant surprises (still thinking of those mini mice sized cockroaches), and each month becomes my new normal by the end of it—my new comfort zone in a sense.
Back in America, my expectations for that shower would have been way higher. In fact, I specifically remember times of feeling completely aggravated when a sibling or two took really long showers and the water was “freezing!” AKA luke warm. Why was I so frustrated? Because hot showers were a comfort, they were my norm.
Point of my little shower story being, as I travel to different cultures and grow with different experiences, I am really starting to wrestle with this fear of being uncomfortable. Discomfort only last for a moment before it fades into a day to day way of life. It is a quick inconvenience that once conquered clears the path to opportunity. From personal experience, I have definitely seen God take some of my discomforts and totally transform them into amazing opportunities both here in Lebanon and back in Cyprus.
In Cyprus I had this super sweet opportunity to work with an elementary aged football (soccer) league used to reach kids with the Gospel of Christ. I really admired what they were doing, but my initial response was “somebody else on my team can help.” I hated soccer with a passion as I had horrible, embarrassing experiences with it in junior high. Ever since then I have rarely touched a soccer ball and had no intentions to step into that place of discomfort ever again. But God had other plans. It was a busy ministry day and with so many different areas and people to help I found myself on the soccer crew. Long story short I had so much fun interacting with the kids and kicking the ball around with them that I was so excited to go back and help the next day.
Here in Lebanon, our hosts read the bio we filled out during our application process and found out that I had a background in music. When they called my name to help with the music program this month I chuckled to myself, “I haven’t played piano since high-school and I rarely practiced all my years of playing and they want ME to do worship and teach lessons. Ha!” I was so tempted to say no. To tell them it was a misunderstanding and I really wouldn’t be good for the job, but I took the opportunity to die to myself and it was a decision that I do not regret in the slightest. It posed many challenges such as teaching children who don’t all speak my language. Worship definitely had its embarrassing moments as I hit the wrong notes in several songs, but the relationships cultivated and the joy I gleaned from running my fingers across those keys once more was so worth the initial heart racing tensions I first felt.
As I processed these things one of my favorite movies came to mind. It is called We Bought a Zoo. It’s based on a true story about this man raising his two children after his wife’s death and making this crazy decision to buy a closed zoo and renovate and reopen it. As the man talks to his son about his wife and how he asked her out for the first time, he talks about this idea of twenty seconds of courage—that’s all it takes! Twenty seconds of discomfort can open a door of beautiful possibilities!
All in all, being uncomfortable is hard, it’s scary, and I know I have so much to learn about what it looks like to step out on the water, keep my eyes on Christ, and trust that God is going to keep me afloat. But I am so thankful for these little victories God has granted me as I continue to dive deeper in the riches of the relationship I have with Him.
”Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 3:12-14
