Stepping Out Of Our COMFORT ZONE @ Modern Skate Park

Last night, five of us (from the WaYfm mission team) decided to step out of our comfort, but four of us actually made it out on the floor :) Josh, Dana & Tom, and I all have an interest in rollerblading and trying new things. Last night, we decided to try out a skate park. The destination? Modern Skate Park. Prior to going, I was more than geeked about the idea of hitting up a skate park as I LOVE to rollerblade. In fact, Josh and I had talked online about it for about an hour the night before.

Fast forward to last night... We got to the skate park wide-eyed and full of excitement as we endeavored on this new adventure (with Autumn threatening us if we broke a bone or seriously injured ourselves as we all have key roles on the mission team). We suited up in full body armor (well, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards and helmets - just to be safe), then strapped on our skates and headed for the ramps, half pipes and spine. Josh was the first out. I soon followed and quickly discovered that I had NO IDEA what I was doing. Having never done this before but coming with the skill of rollerblading on pavement, I thought I could adjust... Ha! Not so fast. This skate park was a world of its own. I looked around and all I saw were teen guys on skateboards and one or two in "boots" (as one teen called them - aka rollerblades). I quickly felt out of place, very much intimidated and almost ready to give up and leave as I was so out of my comfort zone...

To give you some perspective as many of you are teens - all four of us are in our mid-twenties and we have NEVER done this before. We've bladed before, but not at a skate park. We were surrounded by teen guys that had mucho experience at the half pipes, bowl and ramp. We came with NONE. We were very much out of our comfort zone. In fact, Dana and I were the only two girls out there. Not a female to be found ANYWHERE. But you know what? When I wanted to quit and run from embarassment, Josh was quick to say, "You did great!" "Good job!" "You look better." That kept me going. After our first hour out there and falling many times - funny, it doesn't hurt much to fall - we took a water break. I was ready to quit, but the guys headed back out for more "fun" and falling, while Dana, Autumn (our fearless cheerleader) and I sat and chatted for a bit. I thought I was done... Not so fast! Next thing I know, Dana asked me, "Ready to head back out?" I was thinking, "Are you crazy?! I am horrible at this!" But after a second thought and remembering I had paid $14 to do this, I agreed to venture out once more. We decided to try the small half pipe and spine (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you'll see it in the video). And you know what?! We managed to conquer it! After falling several times, we learned to get over our embarassment as even the more experienced guys were falling. We realized we were amateurs, accepted it and were determined to accomplish the task at hand to the best of our ability. AND we succeeded! Josh even managed to survive the HUGE half pipe as you'll see at the end of the video...

So without further adieu, here is our accomplishment (with music credits to George Moss for allowing us to use one of my personal favorites from his album, All Or Nothing, "It Feels Good") Enjoy! ...

Intro with real time audio...

 

Conquering the BIG half pipe with real time audio...

Without the encouragement and support of my team, I would have quit after five minutes.  But we chose to step out of our comfort zone, try something new, encourage each other when we got discouraged, and accomplish the task at hand.  We even managed to befriend a couple of the guys as they taught us a thing or two :)

And that, my friend, is what we will be doing in Honduras.  We will be completely out of our comfort zone, in another culture, speaking the "wrong" language as most of us only know English.   In Honduras, all we will have are each other for support and encouragement when the going gets rough.  But if we can survive a skate park on this side of the border, just imagine what God has in store for our team on the OTHER side of the border as we serve in His Name the children in Honduras.

That is our challenge to you... 

Take a chance to help a friend, to try something new or to do something God has called you to do, therefore STEPPING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE to make a difference for CHRIST.