The Heart of Chicago

I sat on a park bench in downtown Chicago and looked around – So many people – so many colors – so many nationalities – so many needs – so many without Jesus. I saw the dogs being walked, umbrellas opened protecting their owners from the sun, newspapers opened gleaning the past’s events, cell phones and baby carriages.

The noise was extreme: jack hammers; lawn mowers; back-up warnings; trucks roaring; tires squealing; the squeak of brakes and the rumble of jets. How can they hear God in the midst of this chaos? How can I touch the lives of these alienated children of God?

I walk down the street and pass a homeless man in the doorway of a building. I take fifty steps and pass the influential and wealthy eating outside of a posh restaurant. And I wonder: …”God, this is such a dichotomy” – rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief – all needing Jesus.

I walk further; I pass another homeless man sitting at the edge of busy Michigan Avenue (The Magnificent Mile). People are stepping over him and around him – a nobody – except…My Jesus gave his life for him, so he is very much a somebody.

In the midst of all of this I stand again face to face with my own heart and with God’s heart. Where is my heart, really? What is shaping my heart? Does it look like my Jesus’ heart? Does it bear the imprint of His fingers?

“Wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also”