Out of your comfort zone, but in His comfort

I've been reading a book that is all about sheparding and leading by sheparding.  There is so much in the Bible that is already modeled for us.  If we want to live a life like Jesus, we need to understand what He did really well.  Sheparding is one of the things he did super duper well.  What pops up in most people's minds when they think of shepards and sheparding?  Psalm 23

Aside from John 3:16 and the Lord's prayer, I think this one of the most widely known passages of scripture.  

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths    for his name’s sake.4 Even though I walk    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;    my cup overflows.6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord    forever.

I've also been really intrigued with comfort.  Is it good? Is it bad? Just really pondering comfort lately.   Is there a healthy comfort and an unhealthy comfort?

Here in Psalm 23, you'll see that the two are paired, Shepard and comfort.  This passage speaks of great things and hard things, all together.  How is that possible? Speaking about God's goodness yet talking about walking in dark valleys?

When Michael and I were on staff at Calvary Chapel, now called Love Church, we were in our comfort zone.  We felt comfortable in our relationships and in our ability to accomplish what was asked of us.  Upon coming back from a Guatemala Mission’s Trip, we knew the Lord was asking us to exit our comfort zone and enter his comfort.  He was asking us to start The Gathering Place Church in Valley. We had to exit what was comfortable and familiar to us and trust the Shepard, the one leading with the foresight and knowledge we didn’t currently have.  In exchange, he placed his comfort with us and thus, we were able to know the comforter.  

Shepards do not just keep their sheep in a playpen or a fenced area to contain them.  Shepards know that in order to provide what’s essential for them to live, food and water; they must take them to an area where they can get it.  They let them live and experience and leave the safety of the pasture in order to go to higher ground and find better food and water sources.  The sheep do not know the terrain and they do not know the path, but they know the shepard.  They are safer than they could ever be, in the care of the shepard.  

Our God is the God of comfort.  He brings comfort to our souls and we feel comforted simply by knowing him.  We are to find our comfort from him, not from being in an easy situation or a familiar situation.  He calls us OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONE TO BE IN HIS COMFORT.  He calls us out of our comfort zone so that we can KNOW his comfort.  He is fully aware that if we are comfortable in our lives, we are not in need of his comfort.  Are you out of your comfort zone but in His comfort?