Chaplain’s Column
The best is yet to be
This summer my family did a little traveling. I was guilty of taking the more scenic route. After traveling past the same buildings for about the fifth time, my wife’s concern continued to grow.
She thought there was some possible way that I may be lost. I travel with the philosophy that I am never lost as long as I have fuel in the tank. With the fuel gauge on empty, I finally relented to the advice of my dear wife, who insisted that we stop and ask directions.
As I exited the vehicle, with frustrations of defeat, and mumbled, “How did I get here?” Simultaneously, my 13 year- old twins dared to begin to describe the scenic route I had just traveled the last thirty minutes.
In the book, “The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be,” Andy Stanley wrote, “One gets to the place one wants to be the same way one got to the place he did not want to be – by outing one foot in front of the other and moving in a specific direction.”
The truth is we all need direction. We often take the issues in our lives and think we have problems and we are looking for quick fixes to the problems. We want deliverance from our problems without direction.
Stanley wrote, “Cars have problems that can be fixed, computers have problems that can be fixed, lawnmowers have problems that can be fixed. Generally speaking, people have directions that need to change.” We come to God to “fix me” hurry up and zap me with a prayer, sermon, a method to fix this problem.
However, we are not a car, a computer or a lawnmower. Most of the time we do not just have problems that need to be fixed, we have direction that needs to change. We have chosen to walk down a path that has taken us the wrong direction. We don’t need a solution, we need a new direction.
Every decision we make leads us to a specific place. We thought we were making many random unrelated decisions. We told ourselves, I will fix that later or deal with it later. We deceive ourselves with ideas that, “It will all work out in the end as long as my heart is in the right place.”
How many of you have lived long enough to know that “your heart can be in the right place and you are in the wrong place.” Our heart can be in the right place and still be in unhealthy relationships or overwhelmed in debt, just to name a few.
You can have your heart in the right place and the rest of you in the wrong place. Our lives are not a Hallmark movie that all wraps up in two hours and everything magically works out.
“The Principle of the path.” – “Direction not intention determines destination.” No one gets on a plane headed to Texas and says I sure do hope I end up in Hawaii. No one would be that silly. The path you are on, the direction you are currently walking – regardless of your dreams, wishes and wants will never trump your direction.
For example, have you ever heard someone say, “I sure do want a marriage that is blessed, a husband that loves me and honors me and then keeps dating a jerk? You can hope, dream, wish, and want for a good marriage but direction trumps intention.
Where are you headed? I want to encourage you today, no matter where you are headed, God allows U-turns. Proverbs 3:6 reads, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
I believe God has created you with a destiny. You were born for a purpose. Dream big and move in the right direction.
The best is yet to be!
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