Final Review: Principal of the Path

On vacation I finally finished the Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley. The book offered many good insights and illustrations of how our attention determines our direction which determines our destination. Really it's a common sense lesson, but Andy Stanley does a fairly good job of keeping the stories funny and relevant. I think the essence of the book is to have the reader look on in their own lives and determine what path their on and where they would like to go. These two observations are the first and sometimes hardest steps when it comes to making a change. I had insights into every area of my life that in some way or another I needed to change my attention-direction-destination. I've come to think of Andy Stanley's messages at being directed a lot at leaders, but this book is applicable to anyone and is a great read for young people as well as they have yet to get on their paths and determine their destinations.

Summer Activities

Here is a run down of the summer activities that we have planned for Nexus; we may have some more informal events, but this is what is set so far. I would encourage all your students to invite their friends to any of these events as each one will serve as a great way to introduce new students to Nexus and Connection Church.

I've made a public google calendar that has all the dates and details on it you can see it at the really long link here: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=t3c10j95ma426jb2opqcpqaoi0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

6/19-Gwinnett Braves (Bobble Head Night)

- The game starts at 7:05pm, but we'll meet at 6:30 at the Publix at the corner of Old Peachtree and 20. Same as last year.

- Cost is $5, so please have students bring that plus whatever spending money is necessary for food and drinks.

- RSVP by 6/13

7/16 Stone Mountain

- We'll meet at Baxley Point at 6pm to drive down to the park

- We'll hang out at Stone Mountain Park and watch the Laser show.

- Have students bring enough money for food & drinks. Entry fee is covered.

- RSVP by 7/11

7/24 Malibu Lock-in

- The time is tricky, it's from 1am to 6am. We'll meet at the Baxley Point Parking lot at 12:30am

- We're going with Lawrenceville First UMC.

- Cost is $25

- All Go Karts, Putt Putt Golf and Bumper Boats are free
- Non-Ticket Games are Free
- Unlimited Sodas and 2 Slices of Pizza

- RSVP by 7/11

The Principal of the Path: Chapter 4

Finally after a long hiatus I've gotten to chapter 4 of the Principal of the Path. I've been reading another book for work, which took priority. This chapter centers around the idea that we often chose the path of least resistance when faced with a decision. "The pie sure would taste good." "I deserve a little treat." We rationalize and excuse small decisions away and the wonder "why didn't things work out?" Stanley breaks down Proverbs 27:12: The prudent see danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. We all know what a prudent person looks like, they plan. They see things and make changes that will best suit their desired destination. The simple take the path of least resistance. They fail to make the necessary, but hard decisions to get where they would like to go. Stanley has a great example and he says that the prudent see the future as now. That any decision can impact the future they want and they act accordingly seeing that that piece of pie will not help them loose the weight they desire.

I have a friend at work that has lost at least 41lbs. It's been a long road for him. He likes to eat, but more than that he wants to see his grandchildren graduate high school He has a destination and he is staying on the path. I think we all have had moments where we say "I didn't see that coming." I know I have. Let's try and take advice from the Proverb and "take refuge" when we see danger.

Nexus Sunday 5/23

This Sunday marks our final Sunday Nexus for this school year. I appreciate all your support this year as we started to get this ministry going and I'm excited about what we have planned for this summer. This Sunday though I wanted to do something a bit different, so I thought we'd meet at Lake Sims park and have Pizza, play capture the flag, throw the Frisbee and football. We'll meet at the same time as usual from 5:30-7pm. If the weather is poor we'll meet at my house; stay tuned to the website below if the weather is questionable on Sunday. Please have students bring $5 to cover the cost of pizza.

One bit of housekeeping, Ning, the website that hosted our website is no longer allowing free sites, so we'll be canceling our website through them and be using the facebook group page primarily. The url for the facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102202993976. Please bookmark the site so it's easy to find.

Grace & Peace

--
Andrew von Essen 404.791.5168

The Principle of the Path: Chapter 3

The Great Disconnect. In your life what is it for you? What is the greatest void between your intentions and where you are? Where in your life are you dissatisfied, broken, hungry, confused? When we look back at our lives in these areas we can see where we go wrong right? Certainly if we can't see it in our lives we can see it in the lives of other's around us. This is where Stanley starts to let the rubber meet the road when, towards the end of the chapter, he says "We should break the habit of drawing a circle around individual decisions and events and dismissing them as isolated occurrences."

I know I easily will look at a single event and excuse it as something that is completely isolated. The sad truth is, that over time these "isolated" events compound and hopefully we realize that we're on a path. Stanley has a good point earlier in the chapter about being lost. It's that we're typically lost before we realize we're lost. We're on a road that is leading to an undesirable destination.

I don't really know what questions to ask of this chapter. I think the best exercise would be to look back at where you were a few years ago and ask yourself if where you are now is where you wanted to be. In some areas of our lives we'll be happy with where we are. Some areas we won't be. For me, I'm totally in love with my wife and I'm happy to say l love being married to her. She's amazing! On the flip side, my relationship with God could be better. I'd wanted to be a better guitar player by now. The list goes on.

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."

The Principle of the Path

So tonight I sat down and started to read a book. Not something I do very often, but something I should do. Perhaps you've heard of the phrase "Leaders are readers," and being the leader of a student ministry I figured it was a good time to start reading. I was given the book The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley about a year ago from my wife. I'm not sure what was going through her head when she picked it out, but I'm guessing she was thinking I was lost and I needed help finding my way.

Tonight I've made my way through the introduction and the first chapter and he's laid the framework for what a principle is. It is not a law because it cannot be broken. It is something that exists that applies to all of us. He used the example of Archimedes' principle or the principle of the harvest. Stanley goes as far as to say that this principle, the principle of the path, will spare us regret without explaining or detailing the principle itself. A life without regret is something that I would think all of us would like.

After recounting a story about traveling down a dangerous road that ended in a swamp, Stanley declares "that's where the road led and that was the road we chose." My guess is that this statement is going to be critical to the principle of the path. So tonight I'm left to wonder "what road am I on and where is it going? Did I choose it? Did I choose it by not choosing another?