faith unfaded

Manhattan is called a concrete jungle, its dense skyscraper-filled landscape leaving little room for green spaces. This is precisely what makes a “garden in Manhattan” so rare.

But with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

Not only does He give us a garden in the concrete, but He places us where we can be the blooms.

In Josiah Queen’s song Garden in Manhattan, he sings of the oxymoronic possibilities for us to be a beacon to others.

🎶 I’ll be a garden in Manhattan
Be a river where it’s dry
When my friends can’t find the road
I’ll be a roadside welcome sign
Sunshine in Seattle, be a cool breeze in July 🎶

It isn’t enough to light our own way to Heaven. We are called to share that way with others.

In the same way, let your light shine before others… Matthew 5:16

My walk with the Lord had been uneven at best. Bright, shining moments followed by whispers in the dark. Sometimes I spoke boldly. Other times I’d worry what people thought of me. I’d never quite escaped that junior high mentality of “being cool.”

Then—perhaps like the Fresh Prince himself—my life got flipped, turned upside down. And I no longer cared about being cool. I didn’t need party invitations. I didn’t need street cred.

I just needed Jesus.

And I knew there were many others that just needed Him too. I knew it was time to bloom where I was planted. And if He was going to move me, I wanted to be transplanted to the places not many were willing to go.

🎶 A garden in Manhattan
A flower in the concrete 🎶

If I am going to be the closest thing they see to Jesus, let them see Him through me.

Garden in Manhattan (Josiah Queen, 2024)

On the crowded streets
All the people that I see
Want them to know the Jesus that I know
If I’m the closest thing to a Bible that they read
Let the words they read be what You wrote
Father, help me to go

I’ll be a garden in Manhattan
Be a river where it’s dry
When my friends can’t find the road
I’ll be a roadside welcome sign
Sunshine in Seattle, be a cool breeze in July
Light in the darkness, oh, I’ll be a garden
A garden in Manhattan

Florida after dark, I know it ain’t quite Central Park
There’s souls in my hometown You wanna reach
Oh, God use me where You have me…

Give me holy confidence
I don’t care the consequence
I can’t keep You all to myself (to myself)
It goes against my common sense
But I refuse to run from it
I can’t keep You all to myself

https://youtu.be/U1Prozd7-S4?si=2uLcsvLcCBYeTUZs