It’s a warm and sunny summer morning as I board the train headed into the city. The canyoned streets of the Loop are quiet as I walk by the closed office towers, banks, coffee shops, and upscale clothing boutiques.

I pass by the occasional family or small group of tourists, who are taking photos of the surrounding architecture and making their way to visit the skydeck at the Willis (Sears) Tower.

The pace picks up as I exit the’L’ into the River North section of downtown, which is comprised of the blocks that lie behind the city’s famous Magnificent Mile stretch of Michigan Avenue. People are sitting outside of coffee shops, and packing luggage into the back of SUV taxis parked in hotel driveways.

The exterior of my destination looks like a library on an Ivy League campus, or the entrance to a large museum. A quick bit of online research revealed that this building was constructed nearly 100 years ago by a professional organization for surgeons, and was designed in the French renaissance style. Which makes sense. This is exactly the kind of structure one would imagine a group of doctors building one block west of the Mag Mile.
As I took my seat on the main level of the hall, I looked around at the young professionals, college students, and parents of young children assembled. The people here seemed not only to know each other, but to be at the same stage of life.

A nine-person band led the audience in a series of songs, then a few families came to the front stage with their young children to engage in a short ceremony where they publicly declared their commitment to raising their children with Godly values.

Our year-long journey through Chicago's neighborhoods in search of God continues in River North, at the corner of Wabash Avenue and Erie.

Intro Theme Music: Victory Lap by QSTN ft. Mecca:83
Background Music: www.bensound.com/

Pick up your copy of the companion book at https://godinchicago.com/

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