Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A Million Dollar Parking Space!?!


 “In many parts of the country, a million bucks will buy you a mansion. In New York City, you can get a 12-foot by 23-foot slab of concrete. Yes, Manhattan's first $1 million parking space is scheduled to go on the market this fall”, reports Martha C. White in an msn.com article.  The parking spot is a private garage in located in a building that is being remodeled into luxury condominiums.  Owners of the best condos will have the opportunity to purchase this parking space to go with it.
                White says, “The parking space, dubbed ‘the city’s gaudiest garage’ by the Post, will have a separate deed and sales contract. Based on an average 6 percent commission, this means a real estate agent could earn $60,000 … for selling this parking spot.”
The article goes on to say: “So what does the owner get for a million bucks plus maintenance fees? Direct street access thanks to a curb cut in front of the garage door, along with 15-foot ceilings. The ceilings are high enough that the spot can be "duplexed;" that is, an elevator can be added so the owner can stack two cars in the space.
“This two-for-one capability might make $1 million seem like a little bit more of a bargain, but the owner would still have to get a $115 parking ticket every single day for 24 years straight to equal the cost of the spot, the Post calculated.”
                Isn’t it amazing how highly people value a place to belong – a place that is especially reserved for them?  People pay for tickets to reserve specific seats in a stadium or on an airplane – seats that belong to them and no one else.  It provides comfort to know that we won’t be left without a place like the last child standing in a game of musical chairs.  People even become possessive of their seats at church because being displaced from their regular seat leaves them feeling a little out of place and insecure.
                Jesus taps into this desire for a special place to belong, as he comforts his disciples in John 14:2-3.  There he says (in the NKJV),In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” 
               A Christian often feels out of place in a world that ridicules our values, and rejects our Lord.  What a wonderful thought to know that Jesus is preparing a place especially for us, if we are his disciples!  We will have a place where we will always belong, and will never be displaced.  
                If a parking place to call your own in New York City is work a million dollars, then how much is a place to call your own in God’s heavenly house worth!?!  The value is inestimable.  In fact, it is far more than the richest of us could ever hope to pay.  That’s why the only way that we can hope to obtain it is as a gift from God.  This is a gift that He readily offers to those who would accept his grace through His plan of salvation.  Read about that plan here.  There is plenty of room for you.  Become his follower today, and claim your special place.