Living 2 Lives

Those who are close to me know that I love playing MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) and I have played several over the past few years. For the last 6 months, I have been playing Lord of the Rings online and have now reached the max level of 60 with my main character, a dwarf Guardian. I am a part of a kinship with a few dozen other players and we run instances together to get better equipment. I kill orcs for experience, I mine for raw metal and craft them into beautiful armour so I can sell it on the auction house and I have a sweet axe which is an extension of my arm. You can see a picture of him below, isn't he cute .. err ... I mean tough!!!This past weekend, the leadership of the local church I attend met to discuss the main focus and vision of our local faith community going into another year. The conversations revolved around Life Groups and their importance to empowering people to become fully devoted Christ Followers. This really is not anything new but the discussions helped me come to an epiphany in my own life.

I have thought over the years that playing MMOGs was a way for me to escape the pressures and stresses of the real world for the simple pleasures of the virtual world. However, the conversations of the past weekend helped me realize that it's not about what level I am or what gear I collect or how much gold I amass because those things are fake. What I have come to know as truth is that I crave community and to belong to something bigger than myself. I want to help others becasue they matter. I play in this virtual world filled with the unreal for the real relations I have built with real people who have real feelings like my buddy in the picture below. I play LOTRO so that they can see the light of Christ in my life. I play LOTRO because I matter to people and they matter to me. My kinship is my Life Group in my other life!!!