I want to first say I am not a bible scholar or a grammar expert. Just a sinner saved by grace.
I rhetorically asked a group of friends if I may stay in my comfort zone. I have just completed two things last week that I don’t remember ever me doing before or at least it has been over 20 years ago. Over the weekend I started to teach a group of scouts the astronomy merit badge. There were 7 of them. I really enjoy astronomy and don’t understand why everyone doesn’t enjoy it as much as I do. I can speak in front of a group but only subjects that I am comfortable with. At this time that would be astronomy and amateur radio. My astronomy merit badge course was cut short due to a severe thunderstorm approaching but it gave me a start of sitting with them and giving them a brief introduction to what we were going to do. The scouts were focused on my every-word. I had been an astronomy merit badge counselor in the 1980’s and remember giving one astronomy merit badge to one of the scouts. He later became an Eagle Scout. I am very pleased at that. I wonder what became of him. Anyway my introduction talk was on how to plan an observing session. Determine what you want to look at. Figure out when the moon will rise. See how bright the object is. Who has a telescope they can bring. The church I belong to tag line is “Followers of Jesus, who make followers of Jesus, where we live and where He leads.” so the question is my comfort zone is not telling people about Jesus and not talking about subjects I consider myself as a new babe in Christ. For example the second thing I done last weekend that I hadn’t done much was pray out loud in front of another person. Two of our church members were being named as deacons the preacher asked us as we felt lead to come up and lay hands on them and pray for them. I knew one of them real well but I didn’t remember if I had been introduced to him. He reminded me that he had looked thru my telescope before.
Two things speaking in front of children and praying out loud. When I am out in public away from my comfort zone I close up and won’t talk to you unless maybe I say hello. When I think about witnessing to people I hear “who are you to witness to someone with what you have done.” In high school I was bullied. Called names. I guess my high voice and my disfigured lip. Doctors have even asked me if I had a cleft palate. I had not but I did have club feet and had several operations as a baby and one when I was 16. I was never any good at sports but did join the cub scouts and went on to first class in the scouts. I was searching for scripture and just read this verse from Mathew 5:11. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” I had to look up revile. “to subject to verbal abuse” I am not sure if the revile applies to this verse because I am not witnessing but do seek to when that voice comes back to me and prevents me from witnessing.