The Principle of the Path: Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is called Why Bad Things Happen to Smart People and I'm sure that many of us have whispered this question under our breath before. Andy Stanley has an amazing ability to make the very simple very profound. He also allows the reader to bring the obvious to light in a way that no one else can and these traits are displayed very well in this chapter. "There is no fix for being lost" is the first statement of the chapter that really grabs my attention (especially since I'm going to be watching Lost later tonight). When we're lost the only thing that's going to get us to where we want to be is to know the path and change our direction. Stanley goes on to point out that, like being lost, most of our human problems cannot be fixed, but a change in direction is needed to resolve the issue.

Eventually we arrive at the principle of the path, which is "Direction--not intention--determines our destination." I've known this to be true, and I'm sure that you did too, but I'm not sure that we've grasped the potential of this statement. I know I haven't. Our intentions mean nothing...take a deep breath with me and say it out loud. Our intentions mean nothing. I get so wrapped up with what I would like to do, skills I would like to have, relationships I would like to be deeper that I end up not getting anywhere. If everything is a step toward somewhere don't we have to know where somewhere is? If we don't know where somewhere is, then we're not getting anywhere.

Stanley points out that any principle, this one included, can be leveraged to our advantage (and our disadvantage). I have a feeling that as I get deeper in this book I'm going to find that discipline is going to become a trait I wish I had more of. I already know a specific area in my life that I think this book is speaking to me about and it's difficult to look back and notice how small decisions spread over a large span of time have crippled me in this area. The encouraging thing is that with time I can turn around on the path and head in the direction of where I want to land. So can you.

I think if each of us takes a deeper look at our lives we'll see how our direction, our decisions, have landed us in a destination that we didn't want to be in. I'm sure there are areas of our lives that we are very comfortable with and we can do the same with those. As Andy puts it "To get from where we don't want to be to where we do want to be requires two things: time and a change of direction. There isn't a quick fix."