Patrick Grach - thoughts on life and leadership

REVIEW OF SUNDAY- NO AUDIO OF MESSAGE

Since we weren't able to record the message I preached on Sunday, I thought at lest I could offer the outline and notes from it. So, here you go:

How’s my driving?
I. Introduction:
Rush Hour living is hectic and non-stop, and we have demands, deadlines, and decisions bearing down on our backs. Decision-making can be a challenge, and yet the Bible provides wonderful insights into how to make right decisions on a daily basis. I want to conclude with a final message. Not about how to improve our lives, but how to better improve God’s reputation through our driving!
We all have stories of “how’s my driving?” experiences. And that's why I don’t have a “clergy” sticker on my car.
Here's the Big idea: We are a direct representative of our “Boss.” But it’s a family owned business, so He’s our Father as well. It’s our responsibility to represent Him well.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20, NIV.
“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16, NIV.
Max Lucado wrote of the story of G.R. Tweed, a young navel officer who spent three years hiding on the island of Guam during World War II.

"When the Japanese occupied the island in 1941, he ducked into the thick tropical brush. Survival hadn't been easy, but he preferred the swamp to a POW camp. Late in the day July 10, 1944, he spotted the friendly vessel. He scurried up a hill and positioned himself on a cliff. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out a small mirror. At 6:20 p.m., he began sending signals. Holding the edge of the mirror in his fingers, he tilted it back and forth, bouncing the sunrays in the direction of the boat. Three short flashes. Three long. Three short again. Dot-dot-dot. Dash-dash-dash. Dot-dot-dot. SOS.

The signal caught the eyes of a sailor on board the USS McCall. A rescue party boarded a motorized dinghy and slipped into the cove past the coastal guns. Tweed was rescued."

It was a good thing Tweed had that mirror and knew how to use it. But what if the mirror hadn't cooperated? Suppose the mirror had resisted, pushed its own agenda. Rather than reflect a message from the sun, suppose it had opted to send its own.

After all after, three years of isolation the mirror might have been starved for attention. What if, instead of sending an SOS, it sent a LAM (Look At Me!) signal? What if, after three years of inactivity, the mirror was insecure about its abilities? "What if I blow it? What if I send a dash when I'm supposed to send a dot? ... Self-doubt could paralyze a mirror."

So could self-pity. "Been crammed down in that pack, lugged through jungles, and now, all of a sudden expected to face the bright sun and perform a crucial service? No way. Staying in the pack. Not getting any reflection out of me."

Yes, it's a good thing that mirror didn't have a mind of its own. But we, God's mirrors, do have minds of our own. Dare we hope to be a mirror in the hand of God, the reflection of the light of God? This is the call.

Big idea: Like asking “How’s my driving?” the question is, “How well are we reflecting God’s presence on earth?” Here’s the point: it is our mission in life to “drive” or live to best reflect God on earth to those around us. When they see our lives and observe our driving through the Rush Hour of life, do they experience God’s presence or a marred image? How clearly are we reflecting God’s glory?
And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18, The Jerusalem Bible.
So, what principles can we take from these stories about how to clearly represent God to those around us as we drive through the Rush Hour of life?

II. Reflect God’s Glory!
We are the reflection of God, a mirror called to appropriately reflect God’s presence:
Then Moses said, “Now, please show me your glory.”
The LORD answered, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you… But you cannot see my face, because no one can see me and live.
Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses… 6 The LORD passed in front of Moses and said, “I am the LORD. The LORD is a God who shows mercy, who is kind, who doesn’t become angry quickly, who has great love and faithfulness 7 and loyal in love for a thousand generations (Msg). The LORD forgives people for evil, for sin, and for turning against him, but he does not forget to punish guilty people.”
Then Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the two stone tablets of the Agreement in his hands. But he did not know that his face was shining because he had talked with the LORD. 30 When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw that Moses’ face was shining…” Exodus 33:18-19; 34:5-7,29-30, NCV.
To be a reflection, we must be in direct contact with the Light.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life.” John 8:12, NCV.
• A mirror doesn’t have to make an effort to shine for the sun. We are mirrors filled with God’s light. We have Jesus’ heart living inside of us. We drive God’s company car through Rush Hour.
• It’s not whether we are a mirror reflecting His light, but how well we are representing the “Son.”
Paul wrote that we “reflect like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, and grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect.”
• The Greek word “reflect” is “katoptrizomai” and means both “to look or behold” (stare at) and “to reflect”. So, we must see God before we can reflect God.
• It’s not our job to be the source of light.
• We must not get self-centered and try to reflect our own image or agenda.
• We must not let anything get in the way or mar our clearest reflection of God.
• Moses simply had to be in close proximity to God and then he shined with God’s presence. Are you regularly getting alone with God? Our face reveals who and what we spend time with- whether the guilt and shame of spending time in our own sin and lusts. Or the hurt and pain of wondering off down a path of selfish ambition and broken dreams. Or the glow of the love of God through time in His presence.


III. Share God’s Story!
“We are not our own… therefore, we must glorify God with our bodies.” Paul said that we drive a company car, and it has a blaring bumper sticker, “How’s my driving?” And you can scratch the phone number off.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:20, NIV.
• An ambassador is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government to serve as the official representative of his or her own country.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:8-10, NIV.
• This isn’t our permanent residence. We are passing through this land, and while we are here, we are on official diplomatic business with the full authority and weight of our own Country and King, God Almighty.
Reader’s Digest story “Foreign diplomats in America have a blank check for bad behavior.”
In early 2005, Virginia police closed in on a suspected child predator -- a man in his 40s who cops say drove four hours to meet a 13-year-old girl he'd met on the Internet, promising to teach her about sex. It turned out the girl was really a cop, and officers arrested the man at a shopping mall.
But then it was the police who got an unpleasant surprise. Their suspect, Salem Al-Mazrooei, was a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates -- and therefore covered by "diplomatic immunity." The cops had to let him go. Days later, Al-Mazrooei left the country, never having spent a night in jail.
Perhaps the most brazen deadbeats, though, were officials from Zaire who stopped paying rent to their private landlord and ran up $400,000 in debt. The landlord finally cut off the utilities; that's when the officials fled without paying their back rent.

In April, a young Russian attaché, Ilya Sergeyevich Morozov, was allegedly driving drunk when he struck and injured a New York police officer who was trying to stop him from barreling into a closed roadway. Morozov was protected by diplomatic immunity and let go.

In 1999, a Bangladeshi woman named Shamela Begum said she was essentially enslaved by a senior Bahraini envoy to the UN and his wife. Begum charged that the couple took her passport, struck her and paid her just $800 for ten months of service -- during which she was only twice allowed out of the couple's New York apartment.
What if the story was different? Instead of United Arab Emirate ambassador preying on children, He donated hours out of his schedule to work at a homeless shelter. Then what would we think of the UAE? OR what about the officials from Zaire, who instead of ripping off their landlord, they remodeled the entire thing out-of-pocket, and left it in significantly better condition than when they arrived? OR the Russian envoy was speaking at local high schools about the evils of alcohol instead of getting off a DUI? Our opinion of these countries would change because their behavior was different!
How’s My Driving? See, we don’t just drive through the roads of life. We are God’s ambassador. What we do is God’s reflection to those around us.
Being an ambassador requires ownership/ citizenship- do you “own” the vision of God to expand His Kingdom into the heart of every person you know; to multiple the citizenship of heaven so that eternity is populated differently because you lived today!
We are called to share God’s story with our world, not to misrepresent or hide it.
Two devote Christians were captured and severely reprimanded for preaching in Jerusalem about Jesus… So they called Peter and John in again and told them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “You decide what God would want. Should we obey you or God? 20 We cannot keep quiet. We must speak about what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:18-20, NCV.
• Jesus called us to be His witness to our community, friends, family, and world. Simply, that means we tell others what we have seen and heard. We share God’s story in our life.
• A witness must not be silent. We don’t want to be found in contempt of the court of heaven. We have been commissioned with diplomatic responsibility to clearly represent God’s kingdom on earth and to be a witness of our King and Country.
St Francis of Assisi said: “Preach the gospel always. If necessary, use words.”
Our life and message are a witness (or representation) of God to our sphere of influence
We must be intentional about this- it doesn’t happen by just sitting back and letting life pass you by. That’s why I love Dodge’s theme “Grab Life by the Horns.” I feel motivated, empowered, inspired. Or VW’s “Drivers wanted.”
God wants drivers who will grab life by the horns and do something BOLD for Him.
• Become a person of influence.
• Share your faith in Jesus Christ.
• Pray with someone when they tell you about a difficult situation or a family member that’s sick.
• Invite everyone you know to The LifeHouse for FRIEND DAY 12/03. We’ll do our part, you do yours- TAG, your it!


Let me ask you this in conclusion:

Do you have an experience worth reflecting? Have you experienced the life transforming power of the Son of God?

How’s your driving? Are you clearly reflecting God’s image and message to the world? Ask yourself: How can I improve as a witness for Jesus TODAY? Who do I need to invite to The LifeHouse this FRIEND DAY?