The Other Elevator

This story is a sequel to The Tower Builders.

 There was a man who went up in the elevator, and he was never the same again. He realized that the way into the presence of Him Who Dwells Above was the elevator He built and not the man's own efforts to build a tower. And he recognized that, having gone up in the elevator, he would one day go to dwell with Him Who Dwells Above permanently. Far from making him want to abandon all building, it made the man want to do more work in honoring the One who had done so much for him. But building was still work, and there were still problems. Sometimes the man built useless things he later had to abandon. While buildings did not crumble as regularly as before, they still crumbled on him in places. Sometimes he came home exhausted at the end of the day. Many times he needed to go back and ride in the elevator to recover his motivation and perspective. He longed to able to serve his Savior more faithfully and consistently.


Then one day a neighbor asked, "Have you tried the other elevator? It is what you need if you want to really live for God." And he led the man around the corner and showed the man another elevator. This elevator seemed less substantial then the original elevator; you could almost see through it. Also, it seemed to have a cloud continually around the top, making it hard to see where it went. But the neighbor was so insistent the man decided to try it.

The first time was very exciting, and the man felt energized and attacked his work with new vigor.  But this soon wore off, and he felt more tired than before. So he went back again to the new elevator to be reinvigorated. But he shortly ended up exhausted and feeling discouraged that he could not maintain the excitement after leaving the elevator. Then someone explained that he was not going to a high enough floor in the elevator. But this only helped temporarily, and he found himself back in the same situation. He became more and more frustrated, trying the elevator buttons in various orders and even pushing the buttons harder. But nothing helped.

One day, being very discouraged, he made his way back to the original elevator. As he rode up in it, words began to appear on the elevator wall. "In Me you are made complete." "In Me you have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places." "In Me you are given everything pertaining to life and godliness."And the man realized that his Savior had provided him with all he needed in the original elevator. And when he came back down, he still had times when the work was hard and the time seemed long until his final ascent to remain with Him Who Dwells Above. But when he was discouraged, he returned to the original elevator. And he never went to the other elevator again.