Is the Real World on the Map?

(written for last Tuesday's post, lack of internet prevented that. So pretend it's last week.)

Has anyone actually found the real world? Not the MTV show, but the “Real World.” This post, in sorts, is a continuation of last week’s, “A Tale of Two Cities.” While packing and moving back and forth from Tuscaloosa to Los Angeles, I have thrown around the term the real world more times than I have had birthdays. When coming home after being in Los Angeles I said I was going back to the real world. Then when packing to head back to Los Angeles from the previous said real world, I said that I was going to the real world. Lost yet? Now my parents are leaving for Tuscaloosa tomorrow and I will be on my own once again, and you guessed it, I will be in - the - real - world.

This Matrix of a situation is not just a recent phenomenon. For anyone who has ever been to a church camp, mission project or a regular summer camp, when it is time to return home we say we are headed back to the real world. When we are students and it is time to return to school from summer or Christmas break, we are going back to the real world. When we graduate from college we are then welcomed to the real world. So where is this so called Real World, do we even know? Do we each have our own reality that we are bound to? Is it always the unpleasant like school, work, or a land of bills; or can it be an enjoyable place?

I for one cannot answer this question entirely or give you a mathematical equation to find the answer. I do believe that none of us have reached our real world yet. Without turning this into a huge theological debate, our real world is our eternity. None of the stresses or worries we have today will matter in the future; most will not even matter one year from now. Remember junior high drama? None of that mattered! Who we are now, what we do, what we believe and whom we worship all determine where our real world will be. This is what does matter. I challenge you to reflect on your life, your frustrations, your joy, and your beliefs. Where is your real world?