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Your growth potential as a Christian might be divided into three zones.
The first zone is your Comfort Zone.
It consists of those skills or habits that you do easily.
You're completely at ease on this island of activity.
It's solid ground for you.
You're safe in this zone.
There's no fear of failure or looking foolish.
Your Awkward Zone is made up of those behaviors that require some effort on
your part.
It ranges from skills that you perform inconsistently or clumsily
to those habits which are just beyond your reach.
Sometimes you lose your footing in this zone and end up all wet or feel silly
because you're wading into unfamiliar waters.
Beyond your Awkward Zone is your Panic Zone.
This zone consists of things that seem impossible to you.
You'd clearly be in over your head if you tried.
Most personal growth occurs in your Awkward Zone.
When God's providence or your purposeful practice
puts you on your toes in the realm of awkward things we grow.
You don't grow in your Comfort Zone because it doesn't stretch you. It doesn't
change you.
It's hard to grow in your Panic Zone because here you resort to your survival
instinct and instead of reflecting and acting deliberately you thrash about
and swallow gulps of seawater.
But in your Awkward Zone--especially with help--
you can keep your wits about you and learn and grow and eventually
bring the Awkward into your realm of Comfort.
You expand your world
when you walk through the Awkward with God in faith.
The Barnabas Touch is a workshop on the skill of encouragement.
The aim of this workshop will not be to just study the biblical topic of
encouragement
or to just admire the character of Barnabas, the son of encouragement,
but to practice the skill of encouragement.
To make it a habit.
You build things in workshops
and in this workshop we'll be building skill.
That means that we'll be leaving our Comfort Zone and wading into our Awkward
Zone.
You may feel a little hesitation, even a little anxiety or embarrassment
practicing skills that are awkward for you.
But that's the sweat equity of change.
It's the sweet equity of growth.
You see the Awkward Zone is where you grow and so to the Awkward Zone we go,
because there's a lot of blessing to be found on the other side of Awkward.
Join me for The Barnabas Touch, a thirteen week workshop on the skill of
encouragement beginning October seventh at the Chelsea Church of Christ.
The workshop runs from Nine-thirty to Ten-fifteen each Sunday and meets in the
Alternative Classroom.
Come grow in the love of Christ by learning The Barnabas Touch,
the biblical skill encouragement.