In the overcast pre-dawn of a recent cool fall morning, I was sitting at a stoplight behind a pickup truck with a shiny chrome bumper. In the yellow-white reflection from my headlights, the condensation from the truck’s exhaust drifted across the face of the bumper in ghostly wisps. A computer programmer spending hours writing code still couldn’t replicate the random but stunning patterns that danced across the face of the chrome, constantly changing shape and size, unpredictable and yet bounded.

I certainly did not expect to find such a beautiful picture of reflecting God’s glory in the bumper of a pickup truck. But there it was.

I’m clearly not alone when thinking about God breathing on his people. Scripture, in 2 Timothy 3:16, describes itself as “God-breathed.” For almost 150 years, one of the most beloved hymns in the church has been “Breathe on Me Breath of God.” More recently, musicians have written and sang beautifully and poignantly about Mary’s plea for the “breath of heaven” to help her with the enormous task of bearing and raising the Savior. Singer John Waller simply asks God to “breathe on me” to lead him in daily life. So, my challenge to all believers is to allow the world to see God’s breath on our lives. But how?

Let’s shine our bumpers.

You don’t need a pickup truck. And if your truck (or car) doesn’t have chrome bumpers, that’s OK, too.  It doesn’t involve Windex, or rags, or any kind of soap or wax. And the only elbow grease it calls for is the kind you use when you open your Bible, or you fold your hands in prayer.

In fact, you don’t even do the work.

God takes lives tarnished by years of sin and shame and makes them shine when surrendered to Him. Hearts given to Jesus Christ, time spent in His Word and in prayer, and obedience to his commands – God works through all of these to give lives a glow that attracts the world to Him.

So today, surrender your life to Jesus Christ – let your bumper shine. And watch the amazing patterns that God will work into your life.