Comfortable?

So it's been a while since I last posted to the blogosphere. Have you ever had one of those periods of time where you jsut feel like everything is absolutely moving at the speed of light, but you can't get out of first gear? Yeah. That pretty much describes the last week or ten days for me.

Now that I finally feel like I'm getting my head screwed back on straight again (I guess this intro qualifies as a mixed-metaphor) ...

I enjoy being comfortable. In fact, I find it quite easy to be comfortable. I have to admit that, realistically, if I could live my entire life in comfort, I think I very well might be OK with that! Wouldn't we all? Seriously ... if we could work half-days and get a full day's pay, wouldn't we? If we could get by without ever having to change the way we do things in any arena of life, wouldn't we?

Well, it's this proclivity towards comfort in my life that God has been challenging me. The last week or so, my wife Bekah and I have both felt inwardly that God wants something more from both of us - in our marriage, in our lives as parents, and in CrossFire (our Youth Ministry). Yeah ... He wants something more.

The fact that we both felt that way was nice. Comfortable even. Yet it's not OK to just realize that God is calling us out of our comfort zones. I've found that when He calls us out of those comfort zones, we experience first hand a paradox of life. When God calls us out, and we try to fight that and remain where we are, we are no longer comfortable - because we know in our hearts that God has said (like He did in Deuteronomy) "You've been around this mountain long enough ... let's move!" It's simply this knowledge that God is calling us from where we are (our comfort zones) to somewhere different that makes us uncomfortable. Yet at the same time, when we're comfortable, and God calls us from that, change makes us uncomfortable, too. What a paradox. It seems there's no comfortable response to these moments!

I really believe that this is what God wants. No, He's not some angry deity wanting to put us through a metaphorical meat-grinder just so we're not comfortable. No, instead He's a God who has great and mighty plans for us; plans that we can't even fathom; plans that are to prosper us and to give us a hope and future (Jeremiah 29:11). But in order for the God of the universe to bring about His all-perfect will and plan in the lives of us who are imperfect, He must initiate seasons of change in our lives. It's through these times when He tends to show His hand in some of the most significant ways. Check out the lyrics to this Brandon Heath song (ironically), "Don't Get Comfortable":

Comfortable, don't get comfortable.

I am gonna move this mountain
Then I'm gonna move you in.

Yesterday
This is not yesterday.
You were standing on my shoulder
Now you're standing on the edge.
You've been looking for a sign all this time.

So afraid
But you don't have to be afraid
Even if you make mistakes
You know that I'll remain
You been looking for a sign all this time.
If you seek you'll find me every time.

Can you feel the call of love?
Is it moving you to be a child of God of love?
Is it reaching you?
It's everywhere the call of love.

I just wanna to show you what I mean
I just wanna to love like you've never seen
Do you want to live like you used to dream?
Then I've got a song for you

Cuz I am gonna show you what I mean
I am gonna' love like you've never seen
You are gonna live like you used to dream
This is your new song

So where are you? Are you comfortable? I was. I'm not anymore.