Welcome to my world

Recent roof repairs displaced a family of birds. Well, more than displaced, really, as the nest and its contents were a total loss. But Mama Bird, unable to process the loss, keeps returning to her former home, perching as close as she can to the site, then attempting to figure out where she made the wrong turn. Back and forth she looks, then up, then down, as if retracing her in-grained route. Soon, she flies off again, remapping I suppose, then returning, only to repeat the process throughout the daylight hours. Always, the route is the same. Why, she must wonder, does she keep landing in a different world?

Our world is made up of countless worlds within worlds. Mama Bird's world consisted of her nest and the distance she could safely fly from it in search of nesting material and food. That was all the world she needed.

Anthills are a world within worlds, with a queen and workers diligently building and expanding on a miniscule portion of earth's real estate.

A beehive is a world within a world, as is a mountain peak or a hardwood forest.

Some spiders think my world is theirs, and apply for long-term financing on their high-ceiling corner lots.

Our Boo kitty is often confused by his world and our place in it. When we are up and choring, he looks at us as if to say, "You're not eating. You're not sleeping. What else is there?" He invariably finds a safe place to hide when his world is invaded by smaller versions of ourselves gleefully crying, "Kitty," as they scamper toward him.

It often seems as though the world of man is shrinking, with technology putting us into instant communication 24/7, but, even if I've visited a far corner of the country, I have a hard time envisioning the day-to-day activities when I am not there, live and in-person to interact with the residents. I know, intellectually, that their days are much like mine, but they seem far removed from my reality.

Some people are natural-born travelers. The thought of far-off exotic lands entices them to leave home and hearth and to make their way across deserts, oceans and mountains to reach their destination. Some travel for the pure pleasure of it, others with a distinct and divine purpose. They see a far-off corner of the world where the native inhabitants have never heard the good news of the gospel of Christ, and they answer Christ's call in a remarkable, courageous and daring way.

My world largely consists of family, friends, my church family and co-workers. The clerk at the gas station is a familiar face as is that of my postal carrier. My world is constantly enlarged by the people I meet in my work, and I remain in close contact with friends of 30 years and more. This is my world.

I am not one of those, and though I would be more apt to answer that call at this stage of life than at any other, I do not feel compelled to do so.

God created the heavens and the earth. And in creating that earth he created worlds within worlds. Anthills, coral reefs, high mountain tundra and rain forests. High plains, mesas, rivers, oceans and deserts. All worlds within our world.

And God created man. And, in so doing, so created worlds within worlds. Who inhabits in your world? Are you the neighborhood watch captain, always aware of who belongs and who doesn't? That is your world. Perhaps your world is largely defined by sterile white walls, inhabited by the frail and dying. Wall Street, I've heard, is a world unto itself, with high finance and wheeling and dealing the defining aspects of that fast-paced world.

Christ's call to "go therefore into all the world" is not limited to the faraway exotic lands or third world countries so often the destination of today's missionaries. Into all the world means to go into your own world as well. Your family and mine, your friends and mine, your co-workers and mine.

" Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'" Matthew 9:37, 38 (NIV)