Stations, Skyscrapers and a Sunset

Somehow.  Somehow we boarded the wrong train at Washington DC’s Union Station.  All of us showed our tickets to the gatekeeper and I asked where we should sit.  They had ample opportunities to tell us that this was not train # 84 but an express train to NYC.  So we boarded, sat down and began to get comfortable.  About ten minutes into our journey, one of the ticket collectors came by our group.  He punched one of the student’s tickets and then took another.  He eyed it and then said, “You’re on the wrong train.  How did you get on the train?”  We of course had no idea we were on the wrong train and he kindly told us that we had to exit at the next station. “Train 84 is about ten minutes behind us.  Though it might be delayed a little bit.”  He assured us.

We exited the train in the middle of somewhere, Maryland.  “Where are we?”  One of the students asked.

“I’m not quite sure,” I replied.

So we grew in patience and waited...  

"What to do? What to do?"

Finally, train #84 crept up to the platform and once again we were on our way.

There is much to be said about New York City.  For the untrained eye it is a concrete jungle filled with pigeons and people, stores and sightseeing opportunities.  For some the dizzying heights of skyscrapers, the constant noise of traffic, the wail of sirens and the buzz of people bombards the soul’s quiet shores.

Looking down from our hotel room from the 39th floor

 

"Light the way, Lord!"
(Another view from our hotel room with the lamp reflected)

Looking up in Times Square

People, people and more and more people.

But I have journeyed to cities before and know there is more to a city then first meets the eyes and ears.  The people who flood the busy streets possess a hidden beauty, molded by an almighty hand and carved by the creative words of God.  Yet it remains clouded over by the gloom of an alien plague called sin.  But a greater Beauty beyond our comprehension humbled himself to conquer the gloom. Like the sun rising in its strength, he will restore us to a beauty beyond us. 

Speaking of beauty…while I am not one for cities and heights, the view from the Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Center was simply...well, beautiful!  We rode an elevator sixty-five stories up (I think), and then could walk a couple more flights of stairs to the very top.  Since the time we arrived in NYC, clouds hid the sky and the sun...

In the elevator looking up

Looking towards downtown Manhattan

Another view of the city

View of Central Park

However, as evening drew to a close, the sun blazed through the bank of clouds with its golden rays igniting the sides of buildings with a fiery glow.

The sun's radiance reflected on the skyscrapers

Sunset view from the Top of the Rock

In his time, he will make even the gloomiest day something beautiful.