"Familiarity" Idol or Not?

Have you ever thought about familiarity being an idol itself? It's not something that I would normally think about, but I cannot help but think now that it has to be one of the greatest idols that we have. Earlier tonight, when writing an email to a dear sweet friend of mine, it came to be the a main point of the overall email. I am still trying to get my brain around this, but on the surface it makes sense to me.

Everyday we are faced with decisions to make, things to choose over, whether to take a leap of faith or not, to go or not to go, to ask or not to ask, to step out or continue to stay safe...all of these things and probably many more can be linked somehow to our familiarity of the life we are used to or grew up around. Of course I do think there are other things that play in but if you look at it in its simplest form, it just makes sense.

I think a good example of this is where recently I have volunteered to head up our Single's groups' involvement with the Homeless people of Birmingham. This is a ministry that our group has been participating in for about 3 or 4 years from what I know. To get to the point, I have to be honest here...when I was told about it being a need, my initial reaction was to back down or cower away because I just don't know this particular area of ministry very well at all. Other thoughts that ran through my head..."I don't know these people, what would or could I say?" "How can I bring happiness to them?" "I don't have any experience so how am I supposed to try and make a difference?" Those are just a few, but then this past Friday night was my first event to go to in this role, I went down to Linn Park, and honest truth, I was nervous, so nervous I circled the block and then I circled the block again. I felt insecure and alone. I was overwhelmed with thoughts racing through my mind, wondering what I would or could say to people? I was basically scared to death and I hate admitting that but it is the truth. I have to say that after a little while, I began to warm up a little and then some other folks I knew showed up which helped a ton and they didn't even know it. By the end of the time there I finally had gotten up the courage to go and sit with a nice lady at a table and we talked briefly. She was SOOOOO nice and I was honestly just taken back a little not that I expected mean or anything but when I say nice, I mean a genuine, sweet-hearted person. It was not the most comfortable conversation and if you asked me there was not much of a conversation at all but I engaged, I attempted, and that was what counted for that night.

To get the point across more clearly, as I was saying above, I was told this area of ministry was in need of someone to lead and encourage participation. I knew in my heart and mind that of all the things that I know, it was not anything to do with homeless people, and then something struck me there. I wanted to do something that I knew would bring "me" joy or that I could naturally just pick up and run with, but this was not that at all. At this point, I realized that God has been preparing me for this for some time, and now was that opportunity. I needed to step out of my comfort zone and get into the stuff that I don't feel comfortable with at all. I need to invest myself in all people, not just the people I know, not just the people I feel comfortable with, and not just people who have a home to go home to. This was another fear of mine, that I dare not say that I've overcome, but one step at a time, I am finding out that in Him, I can do all things!

So next time something not so familiar and maybe downright intimidating is staring you in the face, think about it, pray about it, because while it may not seem like opportunity to you at that point, you may be surprised at what it can grow to become.