When those words were spoken to me a few years back, I really had no idea what the person meant. What two worlds? Sometimes people who aren’t in ministry say that because they think that people in ministry aren’t living in the “real world”. Like we don’t have bills, cars that break down, kids that can run amuck, disappointments, or illness. That somehow we just sit around singing Kum-ba-ya all day, oblivious to the “real world” everyone else is privy to.

The reality is, I do understand the real world all too well, maybe better than the person who uttered those words to me. What I understand is that there is more to this life than breathing and taking up space. There’s more to this life than living and dying. More than just getting up every day, going to work at a job you hate, falling into the bed at night and repeating the same the next day. Or at least, there can be.

What is this “more” I’m talking about? The “more” is Jesus. When a person lives a life where Jesus is at the center, it changes everything. Jesus brings a freedom that wasn’t there before. Jesus gives us the opportunity to live above our circumstances. Jesus offers us hope during dangerous, perilous times. When Jesus is at the center you can take risks, step outside the confines of tradition and predictability, and step into adventure! You are no longer the driving force in your own life; Jesus becomes that force.

It means saying goodbye to what you thought your life would look like. It means letting go of the reigns, and letting yourself be open to whatever He has in store for you. The Bible tells us that the Lord has made this time for you. That even before the foundation of the earth, this time, this circumstance you are in, was on His mind. You were made for such a time as this. Why would we think its best for us to do anything that would put us in the driver’s seat?

I guess in that regard, I do live in a different world. It’s a dangerous world, and sometimes things appear to go haywire. (Ask me to tell you about Kentucky sometime.) Making Jesus the center of my life was risky. It’s hasn’t always been safe. But He does not call us to safety. Rather, He calls us to follow Him. Jesus opens doors and asks us to walk through them. He rarely discloses everything we’ll find on the other side of the door. If He did, we might not walk through them.

I gave up control of my life a long time ago, and I now live in a different world. But it’s not a world where I see and understand less, it’s a world where I see more, much more. I see the reality He shows me. I can see past the lies of this world, and rest in God’s truth.

The person who spoke those words to me was right. I used to live in the world they lived in. But I moved. I like this world better, and I don’t ever want to go back. Like Cortez, I burned the ships.