Your Direction Determines Your Destination: Thoughts on Road Signs

Driving can sometimes be a challenge for me. Have you ever gone the wrong way down a one-way street? Have you ever been driving on the interstate and gotten off at the wrong exit because you "accidentally" were in the wrong lane? Or better yet, have you "misread" a sign and started going the wrong way on the highway... only to realize a few hours later that you were not where you should be? All of those scenarios have happened to me. 

If you are a little younger and cannot drive, maybe you have seen your parents do those things. But more likely you have gone into the wrong restroom (men to women and women to men), gone the wrong way around the bases, walked into the wrong classroom in the middle of a lecture, or said hi to someone you thought was someone else because they look familiar. Again, all have happened to me :). 

In all of these scenarios it seems that things happen unintentionally. After all, I don't think that I intentionally tried to kill the people in my car by going the wrong way on a one way street, or waste people's time by driving the our of our way for three hours. There have been times when I have not intended to hurt someone emotionally... but I did. I have ended relationships with people. I have had relationships end with me. And my favorite line when that happens is "I did not mean to hurt you." Let me just camp here for a second. Of course we did not mean to hurt each other. No one goes into a relationship and says "Hmmmm... I wonder how deep I can wound this person." It is not our intention, but because we take a risk sometimes it can happen. If we choose to take a certain direction in a relationship there is chance, a risk that someone will get hurt. There is also a chance that the direction we take could lead to something greater. 

Intentions are all well and good, but if our intentions do not lead to actions then they are meaningless. Here is the thing that I have learned and that we all have to learn in life: Our direction, not our intention, determines our destination. That is the theme of a new series I am teaching called "Road Signs." 

As I am getting a little older, I have begun reflecting on that idea. I look back over my life and realize that all the decisions that I made in my life have been a direction that eventually led to a destination. I chose to go to certain college, which led to the next stage of life. I chose to move to Colorado from New Jersey to go to Seminary which was a major directional change. All the decisions that I have made in the past and will make in the future are directions that will lead to destinations. The question to ask ourselves is twofold: "Where do we desire to be... and is it in line with God's vision for us?"

As a student pastor I have seen so many young men and women make poor decisions. It is the plight of all student pastors... I am sure mine thought the same about me. We often make decisions based on our desires, but we never stop to ask ourselves if those desires line up with God's vision for us. It is often like a really scary movie, you see the young protagonist enter the dark house late at night and all you want to do is yell "NOOOOOO!!!!!!" Proverbs chapter seven talks about this idea. We see a young man making some very poor decisions in life and an older man is watching and shaking his head. The older man knows these mistakes because he has already made them in life. So he cries out to the young man "keep my words, and treasure up my commandments with you." Why? Because he knows that it is like and he does not want the young man to go through the same pain he went through. He does not want him to misread or disregard the road sign and wind up on a direction that will lead to a poor destination. I think this is the same way that God looks at us as he sees our hearts and our actions. 

Our direction, not our intention, leads to our destination. I have found that to be so true in life. I don't know about you but want my direction to be God honoring and guided by prayer. As I think about this principal I realize how much I need to be on my knees every single day crying out for God's guidance because only he can help us determine the correct direction for our life. And if we take a detour... he offers grace and guides us back to the highway. But it is not his desire that we stray from the path he has laid before us. The writer of Hebrews put it this way:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us RUN WITH ENDURANCE THE RACE THAT IS SET BEFORE US, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. (12:1-2)."

My hope is that we all would look for the Road Signs in our lives. Run the race, but make use the cloud of witnesses who care about you and always look to Jesus. Heed the "caution" signs, t stop at the red lights and stop signs, dive headfirst into the green lights, and ultimately continually "Yield" to the direction that God is putting us on. Our direction, not our intention, leads to our destination.