Driving GMAC

“You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child” (1 Thessalonians 2:11 Msg).

No, I didn’t get a GMC truck. I spent the day driving GMAC (Gordon MacDonald) from the Raleigh airport to a pastor’s conference in Winston Salem and then back to his hotel in Raleigh.

Gordon is a much sought after speaker and author. But more importantly he is a father. When we first planted WCC God gave us a young couple named Tom and Kristy McLaughlin to encourage and help us. They are the ones who introduced me to GMAC. Gordon is Kristy’s dad.

I was in my 30s back then. I suppose I was full of vim and vigor. I really felt too busy as a church planter to even go to conferences, much less to discover or listen to a mentor. I don’t recall feeling like an expert. It was more like I felt a crazy desperation to just hang on and not be a failure. I was so full of my own inner voice of critique that I was sure I didn’t need another set of eyes looking at the life I was living. I wasn’t living up to my own expectations. I certainly didn’t want to know another’s expectations of me. I guess that’s what I thought a mentor, a father-figure would offer… more and higher expectations.

Can you imagine my surprise that in my late 40s I would start wanting a father’s voice speaking into my life, a father’s eyes looking at my stuff? Go figure.

Gordon, in his late 60s, seems to qualify. More than age though, he is open to sharing his life with younger men (with him I get to be the younger man). His voice and his eyes don’t judge and crush like I feared. Instead, he offers an authentic and revealing look at his own life story and then asks penetrating questions about mine.

Gordon says, “A father no longer feels the urge to compete with those younger. He offers grace and encouragement. He gently urges them to grow in self discipline and commitment. He offers a larger perspective and challenges them to remember what is most important.”

Spending the day with Gordon caused me to write the following questions down for my serious consideration:

·       Who are my really good friends?

·       What does my devotional life look like now?

·       Will the second half of my life be the “best” half or the “bad half?”

·       Have I lost my enthusiasm?

·       What is my sense of call today?

·       What’s in my past that remains unsettled? How does my past drive or limit my future?

·       Where in my life am I making room for laughing and playing?

·       Am I praying with my wife as I should?

·       Am I seeing my children’s spouses as my own children? How can I be a father to them too?

·       Am I keeping a Sabbath day of rest?  (What refreshes me? Don’t use this day for draining tasks.)

Some would say that I spent the whole day as a chaffeur. However, I see my day as one spent with a father. Those who see the value in this will do anything just to be in the car with one who is willing to invest in them.

Who is your mentor? Are you willing to take a day just driving someone in the hopes that they will help “drive” something in you? Are you willing to serve an older man (or woman) just to be near them in the desire that they would share their wisdom with you?

Towards the end of the day, Gordon turns to me while pointing out the window and says, “Look, there’s a pickup truck like mine!”

“I never figured you for a pickup man.” I say.

“Well, I am,” he says. What did you figure me for?”

“I don’t know, but spending the day with you has been quite a pleasant surprise.” I answered.