New York City

This week my wife and I took a mini-vacation in New York City. Besides the heat and humidity it was a very enjoyable experience. We remember NYC back in the 1960s and 1970s when it was dirty, unfriendly, crime-ridden, and graffiti-filled. In those days most subway cars were ancient, dirty, and not air conditioned. Today the city is much better in many ways.

It’s still crowded, and there’s still crime, but less per capita than in many other American cities. The thing that struck us the most is the friendliness of the people. The hotel staff from the maid to the concierge, people in the subway giving up their seats to us, restaurant staff, and others seemed to be genuinely friendly and welcoming. If only more of our churches were as friendly and welcoming!

While in NYC we visited the Titanic exhibit at the Discovery Center just off Times Square. It was very interesting, and it pointed out one thing that I had forgotten. Of all the lifeboats that were launched off the sinking ship, most were not full. That means many people chose to put their faith in a sinking ship than in the safety of a lifeboat. Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Yet we do the same thing. We put our faith in failing institutions or other things of this world that will soon disappear, rather than placing our faith where it really belongs – in God. Let’s not be like those passengers on the Titanic with misplaced faith in a ship that was doomed. Instead let’s go with God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who by the way loves you very much (whether you like it or not).