On Mission at 1,050 Feet - Mike
On A Mission at 1,050 Feet
“The lines at the Empire State Building Observatory are as legendary as the building itself. The line actually consists of 3 different lines. The first one is the security line that everyone must go through. Next comes the ticket line. Visitors with pre-purchased tickets can skip this line which can save a considerable amount of time during our busiest times. The 3rd and last line is for the elevators that take you to the Observatory.”
– www.esbnyc.com
Those are the words on the Empire State Building’s visitor info website that on Dec. 29th convinced me to buy our ‘tickets to the top’ from home, in advance. Eight tickets. Total cost, $164. Experience with family – some local, some from out of town - hopefully priceless. Fast-forward a few hours and our van is creeping down 34th street past Macy’s. To our right we notice a huge mass of people – a line three or four people across and three-quarters of a city block long. We park on 31st street and swagger up to the fifth avenue entrance confident in the value of our prepaid tickets. I ask the clearly overwhelmed doorman, “Where is the ticket-holders’ line?” His response, “Once you get inside, there’s a special line for you… but for now THAT is the line to stand in.” Not what we wanted to hear. Yeah, right. Priceless experience.
At that moment we made a huge realization. We were committed to getting to the top of the Empire State Building to the tune of $164. Not a ton of money, but enough to keep us in the game. By purchasing the tickets in advance we had already decided several hours prior (and with my credit card) that we were going to get to the top of that building. Today.
So we stood in line. When we arrived at the furthest possible point from the actual entrance to the building we were greeted by a number of men and women wearing bright orange coats selling “express tickets” for $45 a piece which would entitle us to go to the front of every line. “Not interested in the express ticket?” they threatened, “Then stand in line for 3 ½ hours from this point” to get to the top. “Impossible” we thought, and besides we already had our tickets. A scant hour later we entered the building, and in a defiant “I told you so” flight to freedom we rode the escalator to the second floor where we were promptly greeted by – another line! Forty minutes later we got through that line to the security check. Then we went “behind the curtain” circumventing the ticket purchase line through a hallway to – another line!
That line led to another hallway through which we found yet another line, which finally brought us to an elevator. But the elevator only goes to the 80th floor and the observation deck is on the 86th floor. So once we exited on the 80th floor we were led through a hallway to another line, which led to the elevator that would finally take us to our goal.
So finally, after: standing in line outside, riding an escalator, standing in line, passing through a security checkpoint, a hallway, standing in line, a hallway, standing in line, handing in our ticket, standing in line, riding an elevator, a hallway, standing in line, and riding the final elevator … we arrived at the top! A journey that started bathed in warm afternoon sunlight now found us a thousand feet from the ground, listening to the wind-wisped sounds of the muted traffic, while staring at the glistening amber lights of the city below and the clear crescent moon hanging in the blackness of the night sky above. To me it was an incredible and beautiful moment, well worth all the prices paid.
In an effort to keep ourselves entertained while waiting in line we joked about how the only thing worse than this experience was the time some of us got stuck for half an hour in the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney World, and that somewhere in this disaster there just had to be a blog post. Indeed there was. In fact I believe the experience was a great object lesson about being on mission: When adversity comes you are only likely to see a mission through to completion if you have made an investment or commitment to the outcome in advance. Put another way, if you have not pre-determined your commitment, circumstances will inevitably distract or dissuade you from your goal. Surely the crowds would have made it easy, even logical to give up our goal if we had not already committed to reaching the top of the Empire State Building before we began our trek.
It’s the same way with the Christian life. To follow Christ is by definition to decide to be on mission. Attempting to do one without the other only leads to legalism and misery. Check out what Paul writes in Philippians chapter 3, especially when you get to verses 12-14: “… but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – NIV
As we begin 2009 I challenge all of us to receive and live in God’s grace. As a result of that grace, decide to be on God’s mission for your life. Then press on through adversity when it comes. Our call is ‘heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ And that’s a far greater reward than reaching the top of the Empire State Building!
Here are a few snaps from the top for inspiration. Enjoy the view!
