Joel Slater

Five days from now my wife and I will fly on 4 planes over the course of 24 hours, and after an additional 7 hours in airports we’ll arrive in Adelaide Australia, my home.

So, you may be wondering if, after 32 hours of travel and a whole bunch of money to get to our destination, “Is it worth it?”…you betcha!

Just over 6 years ago I left my home for the USA; God had laid something on my heart that really scared me. I had a consistent, prolonged desire for years that God wanted me to leave my home and trust him wherever He may lead…told you it was scary.

Hebrews 11:8 – By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (emphasis added)

However the even scarier part was not following what was clearly laid on my heart. Even though leaving the familiar was unnerving, the thought of staying where I was comfortable just because of fear bothered me more. I could live near my family, I could have the same friends and sit in the same old chair at church and continue playing the piano every other week; but, I’ve learned that a life lived in obedience to God is far richer.

I finally got to the place where I thought…“what if, just what if I followed through with this crazy idea that was tugging at my heart and just see what God can do?”

That led me here northern VA and the greatest discomfort I’d ever felt. I suffered a great turmoil every day for years, I simply wasn’t comfortable. When my six month visa was about to expire I was ready to leave, happy God had closed the doors on my time in the US. But a week before my flight outta here my ‘religious visa’ was approved; this took me from a tourist visa to a working visa which snow-balled into a green card. Today I’m on the road to dual citizenship! It seemed that God wanted me to stay and that’s why I’m still here.

Being comfortable can be dangerous, it’s leads us to being complacent, being uncomfortable puts us in a better place to depend on God for our ‘all’. I’m not saying that everyone needs to leave their hometown and set out on a voyage like I did, but I am saying that we need to be in tune, listening and ultimately obedient to what God wants us to do. There would be nothing worse than being at the end of your life and looking back and saying…“If only I had…”

Take time today to seek what plans God has for you. God never called us to be comfortable, He called us to be obedient and even willing to die for our faith…nothing comfortable about that.

As I fly home shortly I’ll feel an element of normality as I’m with my Australian family and friends, sleeping in my house and eating all my fave foods. Sure it’s good to feel comfortable, but it’s no contender for being obedient to God and seeing him act in your life powerfully.

Living in the same town
For all these years
Doing the same old things
Hanging with the same crowd
And it’s starting to get crippling
You’ve never felt in place
And you tell yourself it’s all okay
But something’s different today
You want to run the opposite way

And it seems like you’re locked in a cage
And you need to find a way of escape
When everyone is setting the pace
It’s okay to run the opposite way

The Father sent His Son down
The light of men
The cross He bore was crippling
Rejected in His own town
They couldn’t see the sun shining
He knelt in the garden and prayed
Father, let this cup pass from me
It’s not Your will for me to stay
Your will for me is the opposite way

And it seemed like He was locked in a cage
And He couldn’t find away of escape
But through the cross He conquered the grave
My Jesus ran the opposite way

Oh, and through the cross He conquered the grave
Oh, He ran the opposite way
Yeah, through the cross He conquered the grave
So you could run the opposite way