I love Phil Collins’ song Two Worlds:
Put your faith in what you most believe in
Two worlds, one family
Trust your heart
Let fate decide
To guide these lies we see
A paradise untouched by man
Within this worlds blessed with love
A simple life, they live in peace
Softly tread the sand below your feed now
Two worlds, one family
Trust your heart Let fate decide
To guide these lives we see
Beneath the shelter of the trees
Only love can enter here
A simple life, they live in peace
Raise your head up
Lift high the load
Take strength from those that need you
Build high the walls
Build strong the beams
A new life is waiting
But danger’s no stranger here
No words describe a mother’s tears
No words can heal a broken heart
A dream is gone, but where there’s hope
Somewhere something is calling for you
Two worlds, one family
Trust your heart
Let fate decide
To guide these lives we see
Read more: Phil Collins – Two Worlds Lyrics | MetroLyrics
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always felt as if I were living in Two Worlds….I lived in two worlds when it came to my dad and his family living on the east coast versus my mom and sister and her family living on the west coast. I lived amongst two worlds, with one foot in the public school sector and one in the private, with a toe in the home school sector of my junior year when I needed to do a couple extra classes to graduate. (Don’t ask which my favorite is because they each brought their own ups and downs, and I wouldn’t have had my education any other way). Then there is the two worlds of living a Christian life in a secular world, and trying to find a balance….a balance in which I struggled to find for many years, and failed at for most of those; but in the last few years have slowly gotten somewhat and am still working on. Lastly there is the two worlds of my biological family, who I love to death. And those who’ve adopted me in to their family, and my friends who have become family here in La Grande, OR. Finding a balance between them has been insane the last few years.
*Jo, Me, Mom (Miriam)….Graduation 6/13/2015
*Shelby, Me, Jessica, Ali (Some of my adopted Sisters)….Christmas 2014
But the most recent struggle between two worlds has been that of staying connected to those I interact on a daily basis, and are part of my “real” life here in La Grande, OR and wanting to spend time with and get to know/connected with my World Race family. Often I find myself on my squad’s WhatsApp conversation at work, the car, right before I go to bed, and all I want to do is talk, catch up, get to know them better…but at the same time I want to be involved with what’s going on in my “real” life as well. I want to be able to hang out and not feel guilty about what I’m missing, but I also want to get connected with the WR squad as well, after all we’ll be spending the next year living together…
As I listen to the following lyrics of Phil Collins song Two Worlds
Two worlds, one family
Trust your heart
Let fate decide
To guide these lies we see
I realized something this week…I don’t know why I keep trying to keep them separate and in two worlds…yes truth is in all likely-hood, neither side of my life currently will meet and join together physically, but they’re still connected, they’re one family. They’re the family of God. I don’t have to decide between two worlds. I can choose one family, the family of God. I can trust my heart and let God lead, and I can live between both worlds. Allowing God to guide and lead will make my life better because it’s what he wants.
So here’s the basics, my life in LG and my “real life” are just going to have to get used to me talking about the WR because it’s a fact of life that it’s a part of who I am. Yes right now, most of my talking about it has to do with how I’m getting to know my squad via google-hangouts, Facebook, and WhatsApp; as well as fundraising ideas and where I’m at and what I still need, but that’s where I’m at right now, I’m in the fundraising stage of things, and as time goes on and January comes and I leave for the race then you can read and hear about all the exciting things I’m doing for God on this blog (well as often as I’ll be able to post), and I’m sure when I get back I’ll want to talk about it, and I hope you guys are all okay with that, because reality is the WR is going to change my life, I just don’t know how yet.
As for my squad mates, these last few weeks have been awesome getting to know each and every one of you. I can’t wait to meet each of you in person in October at training camp and living life with you for the next year of our lives. But as I said to my “real life” peeps, you’re already a part of my life, you’re already a part of my family, and I already talk about you guys to other people. I may not always be the most talkative in our group chats or seem that interested, but I am. I read the convo’s, I listen during the hangout; I’m the quiet observer, at least until I get to know you guys really well, and then I can be as loud as the next guy and as talkative too. You guys are a part of God’s family, and I feel no desire to keep you from my little piece of the world here in La Grande, OR just because I feel like my “Two Worlds” may clash, or that the people who are a part of my daily life here get tired of me talking about the WR.
I don’t know that there is a way to separate the two worlds, and maybe that the point, God has a plan and for me and to follow my heart and let Him guide then it means that my two worlds are no longer two but one there are just many different aspects to it. So here’s to whatever God has planned, and to not being in two worlds anymore but choosing to make them one world, and making them both equally important to me. Yes, that sometimes means leaving functions early here in LG to make it home in time to do a google-hangout out on a Sunday night, just like it means sometimes turning my phone off on a Friday night for a game night here in La Grande so I’m not distracted by the WhatsApp messages blowing up my phone. Either way, I just want both of my worlds to know just how much you guys mean to me, and how much I love all of ya’ll…(even those I haven’t physically met yet).
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” (1st Cor. 12:12-14 ESV)
