No Higher Calling?

Back in my Moody Bible Institute days, the text for the freshman Introduction to Missions class was entitled "No Higher Calling." Some students thought this smacked of missionary "snobbery" and that any life calling should be considered a high calling. I, too, was one of those disgruntled students that resented the mission textbook title's premise. So God called me into missions. That settled that.

In one sense, though, there is NO "HIGHER" CALLING than one in Tokyo this May 2012. The man placing the last girder at the top of the open-air Sky Tree...now THAT is a HIGH CALLING! I really have to look up to (everyone HAS to look up to) the workers finishing the tower. At 2080ft. tall, it is the tallest tower in the world. Between the Sky Tree and the new Shinjuku tunnel, I have a great respect for the HEIGHTS and DEPTHS of Japanese engineering. It's not just about tiny electronics anymore. Japanese are really good with massive structures.

Justen's school is in the shadow of the Sky Tree, so he paid a visit there after class one day and took a bunch of pictures. Move over Tokyo Tower, you have a much taller brother! Take a look at the details of the newly-finished tower on Wikipedia here.
We're looking forward to a visit to the Sky Tree as a family sometime. Unfortunately, it may be a while. At least a million other Tokyo visitors have booked ahead of us. There are no special exemptions for big-nosed foreigners, either. I checked. Whether or not the missionary calling is a high one, we are low ones for now.