When you look at the towering skyscrapers in modern cities like New York, Chicago, Houston, or Atlanta—what do you see? There is an old proverb which says: “God made the country. Man made the city.” The point is: You can find signs of God everywhere in nature, but it’s hard to find God in our crime-ridden, man centered, materialistic urban centers.

    But what about you? Does the city lead you to think about the presence of God?

    For many years, Emilie Griffin was an advertising executive. She worked for a major U.S. corporation. Her office was on the 37th floor of a tower on Manhattan’s 5th avenue. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, so far below her, looked like a child's toy.

    “Lever House and the Seagram’s Building,” Griffin concluded, “were our new cathedrals… These buildings are proclamations of power. Do we as executives need to leave these buildings in order to experience faith? Or is God with us in the Marketplace?” (p. 3-4) In her book The Reflective Executive, Griffin argues that with proper consideration, the city dweller can find God's presence in the city.

    With God’s help, and creative approaches, we can turn our jobs into service of others and honor to God. We can pray for others, we can do honest work, and we can encourage others by showing them the way of Jesus Christ in how we treat them.

    God is really here with us in the city! He is actually present. It’s not beneath him to dwell here. God is everywhere—even in the canyons of the city. And you and I are called to be his servants, by caring and helping and telling the great story of how God loves and cares for us in Jesus Christ.