This past weekend was a special one for me as I got to return to a place I used to work at many years ago. It wasn’t like any other job. It was the old train station known as Central Terminal on Buffalo’s east side. As one of the most Iconic buildings of Buffalo, New York’s skyline. I had an obsession with the place as a kid and by the time I was 18 years old the owner gave me the keys to the place and I was part of the effort to try to restore this once great building that suffered from years of neglect.

 The years that followed were some of my most cherished and also darkest times I had. There were a lot of things I was glad to experience and some things I wish I could forget. All in all it was good to see it again up close. On this trip I got to reminisce with one of my best friends about the times we had there but also share them with my youngest son.

When it came to some of the darker times we had involving the Terminal I was asked by somebody, why I stayed with it so long? There were times when we did not know if we would come out alive being there because of certain situations we found ourselves in. All in all I look back and see that God was indeed protecting me and using the experience for my development.

To answer the question, why did I stay after certain events? It was answered in the respect of we felt like we who were involved that we were part of something big. It made it hard to just walk away. Talking with the new staff that support the building today it seems the same feeling also keeps them involved. Work is now happening there and the building is getting much needed restoration work. Still, it is a long way away from being restored to its former glory.

The need to be part of something bigger drives everyone whether they realize it or not. That is why we focus on family, church, organizations, sports teams, and celebrities. Each one of them is bigger than what we alone are and give us a sense of belonging. That sense did not originate with us and the things on earth but the reality is. The need to belong was part of human existence since day one.

Scientists and culturists will say it’s just tribal instincts. In the Godly sense it is the need for Him that is the basis for this need to be part of something. Deep down inside all humans sense that loss. We lost that in the Garden of Eden through Adam and Eve’s fall and we have been looking for that reconnection ever since. Oftentimes they people, things and experiences replace Him as a poor substitute. Sometimes that dedication to them clouds our judgment and clouds the truth.

In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus Christ shows us where are hearts should be:

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Remember that that is where that longing comes from and will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. All the things we have on this side of it will perish away some day. The things of God last forever.

In Christ,

Stephan M. Koenig

Lakeshore Fellowship