Mimes and the Comfortable Life

Fingernails through the chair.  That's how tightly i was gripping my chair.  I was trying to force myself not to run away.  There was an interpretive dancer on stage.  I distinctly remember repeating to myself in my mind, your not on stage doing this, this is not your problem.  I have a few irrational fears.  One of them is mimes; another is interpretive dancers.  When I attended Asbury College this fear would occasionally surface when I had to watch any type of interpretive dance or miming during chapel service.  I feel a deep down embarrassment any time I see that white face and gloved hands or interpretive arm swinging to music.  The thought of crawling under my chair and hiding calls my name.  Really all I want to do is run away.  I am not alone in this fear and graciously God gave me a friend in college who understood my mime-aphobia.

Recently I started reflecting over my deep need to flee from the uncomfortable.  I think its a fairly normal response.  No one likes to be uncomfortable.  In some ways God has put that "flee" tendency in us as protection.  We see a shady looking character who might want to mug us and we flee.  That is a good thing.  We see smoke filling a room with no fireplace and we quickly exit the building.  When we see cheese with fuzzy mold growing on it, we make it flee from us by throwing it out. That too is a good thing.   But, what about those times when the uncomfortable is good for us?


Recently in ministry I have been faced with  those uncomfortable moments.  Instead of being in the background of our kids club organizing crafts and planning game time, where I am most comfortable, I have been in front of everyone running crafts and games. I have even been caught a time or two doing hand motions to the music.  (That is fairly close to the mime/interpretive dance category)

                                                          

Doing ministry in a new location where your fairly isolated can definitely be uncomfortable.  Many of times I have found myself wishing we had more team working with us in town.  It can become lonely.  Its hard to find balance between reaching out to an entire community and taking care of home life.  Some days it feels like a lot just to go into town to buy groceries or pay bills.  Uncomfortable is a common occurrence in our lives.

But, what I have learned in these past six months is what that discomfort brings.  It has brought relationship.  In my loneliness I have not had team members living right here beside us to rely on, so I have dug into relationships with new friends in the community.  Relationships that I might not have reached for had I had the comforts of team.  I have found that I am encouraging others in town to get involved with helping the childrens' club and get involved in teaching.  I would not have had that opportunity if we had team here working with us. Those opportunities would have been missed.  Those relationships would not be deepening had I been more comfortable.

At times I lose sight of what is important.  Why do I think things always need to be comfortable?  Was Moses comfortable when God asked him to go and tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites be free?  Was Gideon comfortable when God had him whittle down his army from 32,000 men to 300 men as he was about to go into battle with the Midianite army?  And what about Jesus?  He was obviously not comfortable when we he was hanging on the cross and dying for all of our sins!

So why do I start searching for reasons that something might be wrong when things are uncomfortable? Its just a way to flee.  But sometimes we need to stick a stake in the ground and hang on.  We need to look for the blessings that can come out of the discomfort.  Life is not supposed be gaged by comfort or discomfort.  That is not the way we were designed.

We were designed to glorify God.  We were designed to share the good news of salvation for all.  And if that causes a bit of discomfort that's ok by me because the outcome is worth the price.  Leading people to Christ and breaking new ground where we are living; that is the point.  We are here to be uncomfortable for Jesus.  Facing Satan and his armies was never meant to be a comfortable situation.  But just like Gideon, God may have dwindled down our army to a small amount, so small that it is just BJ, me, and the kids living here in this town.  But oh how amazing it will be as lives are won for Christ.  Because in that moment we will only be able to say, it was by no power we possess but by the power of God, that lives were changed.

So we go on day by day in our discomfort.  We put ourselves in vulnerable situations and try to connect with people who are open to listening to what we have to say.  We try to keep our eyes open for opportunities to present themselves where we can show love. We go to graduations, weddings, and school events where we stick out like a sore thumb (or very white gringos).   We go outside our home and live life with the people of Chaguarpamba and in our discomfort we are blessed.  So tomorrow when I wake up I will embrace the discomfort and know that I am growing deeper in my relationship with Christ as I step forward in the work he has put before me.  I just pray he never asks me to be a mime!