Get Uncomfortable
Mar 31, 2023 | by Joel Jacobs
Many of you are aware of the recent mission trip to Yucatan, Mexico I was blessed to be a part of. It’s a week that has marked my life forever, and not just that I will always remember it. There are a lot of significant life events that we will always cherish the memories of, and I certainly will cherish the memories of this trip. However, what I’m saying is the person that walked out of my house at 6am on a Monday morning, is not the same person that walked back into my house 6 days later at 11:30pm. God is so good that not only was he working through me to bless and minister to the people I encountered in the Yucatan, but he was also working within ME; blessing ME and ministering to ME!
One of the big themes from this trip that God has been showing me revolves around comfort. He started me down this path of examining comfort last summer. I was blessed to lead a group of youth to our 1st camp experience. Just a few days before, I started to self-loath about it. Thoughts of being away from my family; it was going to be hot; what are the cabins going to be like; what am I going to have to sleep on; will the boys shower or is the cabin going to smell like…(fill in the blank with whatever teenage boy related smell you’d like). Just a bunch of “why me” kind of stuff. Some of it was because it was something new that I had never experienced before, so I didn’t really know what to expect, and some of it was the pressure of being in charge and wanting the youth to have an awesome experience.
God keeps his promises, and every time I cast my cares about it to Him, He took care of it (check out 1 Peter 5: 6 & 7 if you’re not sure what I’m talking about here). One particular moment of this negative talk, Holy Spirit suddenly and clearly showed me… “Do you not see how this is a blessing for you too? That I chose YOU for this?” Wow, what a perspective my negative mind was causing me to miss. Yes, I was serving God because I love Him and doing it for His Kingdom, but God loves me too! He was reminding me the honor it is to get to serve my creator, my Lord, my Savior, my Heavenly Father, and how much enjoyment I get from doing so. Also, how much of a blessing the week was going to be for the youth because I was obedient and said “send me. I’ll go.” Even so, another moment at the start of the camp week I was walking from our cabin and starting to have some negative thoughts again. Holy Spirit again showed up in my internal dialog…”You’ve been praying and believing to be sent to different parts of the world. Right? How do you expect to be ready for something like that, if you can’t handle a few days and nights of discomfort at a summer camp that’s within driving distance of home?” That’s some real talk right there. It started to open my eyes as to how comfort holds us back from our Kingdom assignments. From that point on, I was good to go at camp, and God being God, I received tremendous blessings and new revelations that changed me as a pastor forever.
Fast forward five months, and there’s an opportunity to be a part of a team from the church to go to the Yucatan. My initial reaction was “LET’S GO!!” I was pumped. However, a few days leading up to it, negative thoughts started to creep in again. All similar as before: a lot of the unknown; something new; how me being gone was affecting my family and kids; painfully thinking through the “perfect” packing list, etc. etc. To shorten this part up, I again casted my care about it all and God was with me. When I loaded my luggage up, it all pretty much melted away.
I could write a ton more about all the details of the trip, but for now I’ll stick to when we first began delivering care packages to individual houses. Seeing the stark difference of what their daily living situation is as compared to ours in the United States, I think it’s normal for our minds to instantly go to being thankful for what we have. That was my initial reaction. Thinking about the comforts and conveniences I am blessed with. However, God quickly showed me that’s not where my focus should be. Too often comfort and convenience is in the forefront of our minds. I recently even said to my wife when talking about a potential purchase of something, I think it may have been bed sheets. “If it’s truly going to make me more comfortable when I sleep, then I’m ok spending extra on the good ones.” Now listen, when God was showing me this, he was clear that He doesn’t expect me to throw out my good bed sheets and start sleeping on a hammock. Or get rid of my washer and dryer and start washing clothes in the creek with a wash board. The United States, despite a lot of faults, is a blessed nation. I believe I partake in the fruit of seed that was planted by many before me. So, I am thankful for the life I live in the Untied States, but God was again showing me (just like last summer) that my focus should not be on the “things.”
God used Tyler and Jazmine (pronounced like Haz-mean), our Yucatan hosts, as an example for me. Tyler grew up in the same town as me and his wife Jazmine is a native of the village we stayed in. They are married, and currently living in the United States working towards Jazmine’s citizenship. They and their son are experiencing what life would be like if they stay living in the United States. When they are living in the Yucatan they live around scorpions, tarantulas, poisonous snakes, extremely harsh weather, and a whole list of other “hardships” many in the United States would find unbearable. Life in the Yucatan looked simple, but it definitely didn’t look easy. YET, you can see how much they love living there. You can see they PREFER to live there among the scorpions, tarantulas, and snakes, and harsh weather. They choose all of that over living in the United States and with the comforts and conveniences that come with it. Why? Because they are where God wants them and they know it.
That’s it. That’s what God has been leading me to fully see. Not that I shouldn’t be thankful or despise the comfort and conveniences, but above that I should be thankful that I’m where God wants me to be. Right now, that’s Lebanon, OH at Faith Building Church. Last summer God wanted me at camp with the youth. Last week he wanted me in the Yucatan. Those are just some highlight examples, but the list could keep going as this applies to all areas of our life. Now I’ve seen what I would have missed out on if I let being comfortable get in the way. I encourage you to examine yourself, your motives, and your mindset. Not from a condemning place, but allow Holy Spirit to have some real talk with you. Are you where God wants you or are you allowing your comfort to hold you back? Are you allowing God to freely work through you or are you setting limitations on Him? Limitations in ministry, in your praise and worship, as a husband, wife, father, mother, friend, co-worker, (fill in the blank). This is an ongoing process of growth, but you have to be willing to start it (and God is with you through it all).
Allow yourself to get uncomfortable and trust in THE COMFORTER, and God will do awesome things through you, and in ways you never thought possible.