Where does one begin to relate an experience like this? There are so many new experiences, so many new people, a different diet, a new way to bathe, and an outhouse which are all unfamiliar to me.
A friend back home asked me a few weeks ago if going to Rwanda was going to be stepping outside of my comfort zone. My answer – yes.
In a later in a conversation with another friend about my comfort zone, I told him that I had to take time to get out of my comfort zone. The problem with my comfort zone is that it is mine. It is all about me. I should take more time getting out of my comfort zone within my own culture. How can I expect to challenge others to step out of their comfort zone if I am not willing to do so myself?
Though ‘out of my comfort zone,’ I am really most comfortable here. There are people here hungry for teaching from the word of God. They are open to the teaching and are filled with excitement about being taught from the Bible and the Bible alone. And I love teaching, so this makes me comfortable.
The people here are loving and welcoming, and though I can’t understand what they are saying, nor they what I am saying without our interpreter Theophile, we do communicate a common bond of concern for one another. This makes me comfortable.
They laugh when I talk (and not because of my southern accent), stare at my white skin, and probably wonder why I don’t take a big helping of some of the food I am served. But the pursuit of Christ and his word we share in common, and this is all it takes to make me comfortable. As the words to the old chorus say: ‘We have joined our spirits with the Spirit of God, we are one in the bond of love.’
That’s a comfortable place to be.
Gene Andrews
A friend back home asked me a few weeks ago if going to Rwanda was going to be stepping outside of my comfort zone. My answer – yes.
In a later in a conversation with another friend about my comfort zone, I told him that I had to take time to get out of my comfort zone. The problem with my comfort zone is that it is mine. It is all about me. I should take more time getting out of my comfort zone within my own culture. How can I expect to challenge others to step out of their comfort zone if I am not willing to do so myself?
Though ‘out of my comfort zone,’ I am really most comfortable here. There are people here hungry for teaching from the word of God. They are open to the teaching and are filled with excitement about being taught from the Bible and the Bible alone. And I love teaching, so this makes me comfortable.
The people here are loving and welcoming, and though I can’t understand what they are saying, nor they what I am saying without our interpreter Theophile, we do communicate a common bond of concern for one another. This makes me comfortable.
They laugh when I talk (and not because of my southern accent), stare at my white skin, and probably wonder why I don’t take a big helping of some of the food I am served. But the pursuit of Christ and his word we share in common, and this is all it takes to make me comfortable. As the words to the old chorus say: ‘We have joined our spirits with the Spirit of God, we are one in the bond of love.’
That’s a comfortable place to be.
Gene Andrews
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