Facing Dragons

Yesterday at church my pastor talked about stepping out of your comfort zone and really pursuing radical life for Christ. Truthfully, I was really convicted.

The majority of the world was 'discovered' in a 30 year time frame. Starting in 1492 when Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue - North America, India, Madagascar, the Philipeans, and more where all discovered. Why is it that nothing happened for hundreds of years and then all of a sudden the world became bigger? P. Tom was saying that he thinks it's because Europe was trapped in a bubble of fear. They were very comfortable in their own world with what they knew and didn't want to know about the great unknown. On maps from way back then, when map makers didn't know what was beyond the boarders of their maps, they would write things like, "Beware, dragons lurk here." Or "Giants Be Here" and "Fire Scorpians Be Here". In the oceans they would draw big sea serpents because they didn't know what was there.

A lady came up and shared her testimony about what the Lord has been doing in her life. She is probably in her mid 30's and she has two kids - 8 and 9. She is a nurse and has really solid boundries that help her in living her life and in her work life too. It's good. A couple months ago the Lord told her that some of her boundries were getting in the way of Him doing what He wanted to in her life. She had these ideals of being a mom and needing to be safe and be there for her kids and not take any risks. God wanted her to take some risks. So he had her go to Mexico - an "unsafe" area. So she obeyed. It was the most amazing experince of her life. She said they saw 30 people come to the Lord in one night and she was on the streets in Mexico witnessing and sharing Jesus with people - not very safe! :)

At this part of her story - I was smiling. I understand people's fear of traveling and ministering in the unknown countries - for me, that's not scary though. That's exciting. So I was really happy for her that she stepped out in this area and experienced God's passion for the nations and the lost.

She then went on to say that she has been walking through this with her kids. They pray that God will bring people into their lives that need to know Him that they can talk to. So it's been happening! They will be out in town and pray and God will bring people in their paths that He wants them to talk to! And the kids are the best - they are the most bold, knowing that God is speaking about this person and that they need to talk to them Now. The mom is like me- you walk by and know God wants you to speak to someone, but you think, well, if they are there when we walk past again, I will talk to them then.

This is where the uncomfortableness set in yesterday. She also said that everytime they pray, she prays that the Lord will give her the time to talk to people. As adults we get wrapped up in time - we have to be here at a certain time or leave at a certain time, kids don't really have that worry or idea yet.
Ok - so I am a full time missionary. I have all the time in the world to tell people about Jesus - it's my 'job'. And yet this mom with her job and 2 kids has talked to 6 people in the last week and I, with my missionary life and my baby, haven't talked to one in probably 3 weeks! Ouch.

This is the area beyond my boarders. For some reason, talking to people here is my fear, it's the dragon I face everyday. P.Tom was talking about how God calls us to live beyond our boarders - to take risks for Him and do His work. To go beyond just walking in our giftings, but to walk by faith. We all have areas beyond the boarders of what we are comfortable doing. I think God is calling us to look at those things and step into those areas in faith. 2008 can be an amazing year with Jesus if we are willing to step into the unknown and take some risks. I pray that in January of 2009 I can look back on this year and be amazed by what I allowed God to do in my life - that I won't look back and think that it was a spiritually boring time.

Sir John Franklin discovered the St. Lawrence River and mapped most of the Northwest Territories in Canada. On the map he was re-creating, there were areas that said "Here be Giants, here be Dragons, here be Scorpians." As Sir John went into these unknown parts - he crossed off everyone of those statement and simply wrote "Here be God".

May that be the truth in my life. May I step out of my comfort zones and apathy and face down the dragons in my life that I may simply say - Here be God.