Facsimile. A copy. Looks just like it. Used to be that little office machine sitting on the desk- half phone, half magic curly paper. The only way to make an image move from one place to another. When was the last time you said the entire word- facsimile. Years? Now it is just the fax. A copy with the original somewhere else. A simulation of the original at a distance.
Model. A plastic toy. A replica of a favorite car. It isn’t the car. It looks like the car. It is a model, a likeness of the car. A facsimile of the car.
Last week, I had the privilege of watching a colleague speak to a group of community leaders. I saw commitment and leadership. I saw creativity and caring. At that moment, she was UVMC. Modeling and representing the best of what we want UVMC to be. A walking facsimile. A living, breathing image.
My question for you. Are you a model, the noun? a static likeness, a simulated leader? Or do you model, the verb? Letting your words, your acts, your life simulate that which others can’t see, except through you?
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Galatians 2:20. NIV.
Is that the way it is? When I speak, are others able to hear Jesus in me? To whom do my words point the hearer? Am I modeling Someone greater than myself? Do I make people think of the cute little rubber tires, the pop-up hood, the plastic lights of the model? Or do they envision the real thing, the fire breathing, exhaust rumbling, tire smoking hot rod?
