There are about 325 million elevator rides every day and each elevator carries 20,000 people per year. Yet, we seldom stop to think about the sheer amount of work they do or how we ended up with this technology. Here are some quick statistics on elevator usage:

• • There are about 900,000 elevators operating today
  • The average user takes 4 trips in an elevator daily
  • All elevators put together carry the equivalent of the Earth’s population every 3 days
  • Elevators in the US travel 7.2 trillion feet or 1.36 billion miles per year
  • Elevators are also safer than cars. An average of 26 people die in elevators each year in the U.S. There are 26 car deaths every five hours.
  • Elevators in the United States make 18 billion passenger trips per year

Interestingly, the other day I learned the “Door Close” button is there mostly to give passengers the illusion of control. The button is only enabled in emergency situations with a key held by an authority. Considering all this, I realized it takes a lot of faith to ride an elevator.

Most people, including myself, don’t stop to think about the safety nor operational condition of an elevator. I don’t ask to see extensive service records, manufacture history, technician credentials, etc. If I see them working properly then an I assume all is right and hop right in. This is what it’s like to follow Jesus. We may not have all the facts but he always gives us enough evidence to act in faith.

FX3 Challenge:

Read:

Read and meditate on Matthew 4:18-22. What do these verses say to you?

Pray:

When Jesus says “follow me”, what does this include?

Meditate / Make It Real:

How much evidence or faith would it take for you to fully follow Jesus?