a cool breeze at the lake front, hipsters in Wicker Park, goosebumps at Wrigley, corn hole (bags for some of you) with my boys, paddle boats with my little girls in Lincoln Park, walking hand and hand with my wife down a tree covered street, the skyline in the evening, riding my bike to the office in the cool of the morning, a BBQ after church on sunday night, standing on stage at the Brixen Ivy Community Center and hearing people's voices rise up in worship over my own amplified voice, and on and on they go....
i have these moments frequently (especially in the spring and summer!), but a thought struck me the other day:
do i love the people of this city as much as i love the city itself?
ouch. that one stung a bit. you see the city doesn't talk back, it accepts me for who i am. the city doesn't cut me off when i am driving, it always has room on it's streets for me. the city is easy to love because it almost always gives back. the people on the other hand... well, that is a different story.
suffice it to say, that i am convicted of my lack of love toward the people in this city. Paul said that without love I am like a clanging symbol. last i heard, that just sounds like noise. Chicago doesn't need more noise. it has enough as it is. what it could use is love. maybe the Beatles had it right when they said; 'all we need is love!". love is all we need. but it isn't an earthly love that comes and goes like the weather in our fair city. it is the unending, unfading, unfailing love of JESUS CHRIST. that is the love that forgives every sin, and heals every heart. that love is all we need.
may GOD grant me a super-earthly love for the men, women, children of this city. no matter what neighborhood they are from, no matter what they might look like, no matter if they deserve it or not. may HE grant me the ability to see them as HE sees them. may HE grant me the ability to share in HIS passion, and may we see the people of Chicago come to know that all they need is LOVE, for GOD is LOVE.
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