I love wandering cities. I live in a big one that I don't wander around often enough. I forget that the city I live in has the same nooks and crannies that fascinate me as do all the cities I've ever visited.
I love traveling. There's something mystical about visiting the old city centers of Europe that have been around for the better part of a millennium and yet still hold up under the modern grind. There's a beauty and a charm in the pristine facades and glamorous landscaping.
Yet, there's something we miss when we don't look deeper into back alleys. I think God wanders the back alleys. While the fronts of buildings on the main streets are beautiful, they're usually just facades. Life happens in the back alleys. It's the path we take when we're just trying to get to work as quick as possible and have no time for the superficial beauty on the other side. While the front is kept looking pretty to keep up with the neighbors, the alley is left to age naturally. In the alley we don't have time for facades. In the back alley we don't have time to be anything but authentic. While we present the front of our house the way we think we should present it to the world, the back alley is where we are unashamedly ourselves.
It was the ragamuffins who knew nothing but the back alley who saw Jesus for who he was. The religious leaders simply whitewashed the front of their houses until the house became a tomb. While God is omnipresent and wanders every street- it's usually only those who take the time to wander the back alley that end up running into him and recognizing him.
Maybe that's why I love the eroding beauty of an aging back alley so much. It's why I love ruins so much. It's easy to stop and dream of what was or what could be. Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah 61 came to restore the ancient ruins. Restoration to something even greater than what once was starts with the recognition of a ruined state. Back alleys are a reminder of a ruined state, what once was, and what could be again. Maybe that's why I love the beauty of a back alley in a big city.