I am a small town girl down to my DNA.

There is nothing “big city” about me and I’ve never yearned for those bright lights.

That’s not to say I haven’t done my time visiting and living in cities. When I was young and full of heart to be near where God was at work (and imagined it only happened in places teeming with people), I lived and worked in Providence, Central Falls, and Pawtucket. I took a job just outside Philadelphia and spent a January college mid-term in New York City. I’ve visited Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Osaka, Kyoto, and Boston to name a few. My favorite city to tour is Washington, D.C. where I have wonderful family memories but overall, I like my small town in my small state.

Cities fill the headline news. Cities are problematic for crime, crowds, and cars. Cities are loud with light that dims the stars. It’s easier for me to imagine myself near to God on my front porch with the sounds of peepers in the trees but I must admit I pray more often and with greater fervor in the city (and not just for parking).

So, it’s problematic that the apostle John had a vision of heaven and it was a city (Revelation 21-22). What? When I imagine the room Jesus has prepared for me, there’s a front porch, a lake full of still water, and lots of trees. Never in my wildest imagination is it an apartment overlooking a narrow street.

But one of the greatest chapters of the Bible, Hebrews 11, also proclaims that these great men and women of faith were looking forward to a city, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16).

Sure enough, we only have glimpses of what is to come. Heaven and earth will be made new and God loves His creation so I don’t imagine Him paving over paradise and leaving us without nature and that’s the rub, isn’t it?

My imagination cannot match the creative power of the Living God (and I have the imagination of a writer). Paul writes in Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” And Paul quotes Isaiah in 1 Corinthians 2:9 writing, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

But a city?

Am I the only one who struggles with that?

There are aspects of cities that I love. I adore having people from many different ethnic origins living side-by-side. The aroma of the various foods, the music, and the languages. I love the cultural aspects of cities, art, theater, dance, architecture, and orchestras. There is much to enjoy.

And the city we look forward to in glory “has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). I am curious to see His design, our Master Builder and Artist of all Artistry!

It also promises to be a city without sin. Now that is certainly something beyond our imaginations now. We’ve lived with sin for so long, we imagine it’s something we require like oxygen and coffee but really, it was never part of our original blueprint. Without it, the headlines will be filled with love, with beauty, and with joy.

Because really, isn’t it the people, the crush of them, the sheer numbers of them, and the crash of their sinfulness into one another that makes the city a fearful place? We don’t truly fear the city– we fear one another. But that’s true in small town life, too.

You see, when I imagine that porch and the still water, I imagine myself whole and holy. Even this side of glory, I can fool myself into that thinking when I sit alone in prayer, holding my Bible, and it’s just God and me. It’s other people that reveal the unsanctified frontiers of my wild heart and expose me for who I am, a sinner redeemed by the perfect sacrifice of the perfect Jesus who loved me and saved me despite my sin.

And what a blessed ministry is that exposé!

He had the perfect home in Heaven and yet, He made Himself human and came to this crowded city of a world to love us face-to-face, to sit across the table from us knowing He brushed the hand of the one who would betray and the other who would deny and the rest who would flee in the hour of His greatest need.

I need the city. I need the press of people so I don’t fall prey to the delusion that I am done and that Jesus loves me best and that I can save myself.

Last month in Chicago, I had trepidation about taking a taxi by myself. The drive to the airport was long and the city was preparing for a day of protests the next morning. The tension rose with the humidity and the small town girl in me sent up a prayer.

My driver was originally from Ghana but now lives here. He was kind and in our early chatter, we learned that both of us know Jesus. I asked if the police barricades and the press of protesters would interfere with his job or give him anxiety.

“This is not my concern. My citizenship is in Heaven and so that is where I keep my eyes. This is not my home. My home is with Him and so my thoughts are not of these protests but of Him. I have been listening to a sermon by the Reverend Billy Graham about praying in the Holy Spirit. Would you like to listen with me and we can discuss it as we drive? Do not worry, my sistah, I will get you safely to the airport.”

Why do I resist the city that is His Body, the church? For as much as I was humbled by my brother, the driver, so was I comforted and challenged to grow up a bit more. The ride was double the normal time because of the barricades and the police and the people but I was sorry it ended so soon because that taxi was an outpost of glory.

And so we can be for one another. We must resist isolation. We must not neglect meeting together as some are in the habit of doing (Hebrews 1o:25). We are His city on a hill (Matthew 5:14) and yes, this means we are exposed and our sins became the talk of others but it also means His light shines through us. Even this is beyond our imaginations but we serve a great God who never needed our false fronts or our self-made attempts at perfection to bring His kingdom come. We are never called to hide but to humble service and graceful words of truth.

This place is not our home. Our home, that beautiful city designed and built by the Father of Light, awaits, and don’t we want it full, full of those we love and those we once feared and those we once called strangers whom we now know as brothers and sisters of the Most High God!

We must embrace His city now and keep our eyes on the city yet to come.

Thoughts? I love to hear from you. I respond to every comment and reply to every email.

One little surprise!!! Here is the BEAUTIFUL cover of my upcoming book, God’s Abundant Mercy: 40 Days of Living in His Compassion.

This exploration of 40 Bible verses about mercy releases in April 2026 (although you can preorder it now). I’m so excited because the message that rings most in my heart from this study is that MERCY TRIUMPHS! Praise God.

What is the most surprising thing about heaven? https://t.co/s6CKPBESEh #heaven #cityonahill

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) July 1, 2025

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