**I realize that only a few people have followed through and bought the book that so heavily influenced me to start this site. In light of that realization I decided that I want to post a few excerpts from Andy Stanley’s book The Principle of the Path
Life would be so much easier the second time around if we had an opportunity to learn from our first time around. But we don’t. Primarily because we only go around once. So we are left to make decisions without the benefit of the experience necessary to make informed decisions. Or we are left to choose paths with no clear knowledge of where they lead. How do you know which way to go when you’ve never been where you’re going?
Take marriage, for example. Single people shouldn’t have to choose a marriage partner. What do they know about marriage? It’s a bit absurd if you think about it. Choosing a life partner should be reserved for people who know something about marriage.
I know. Then how would anyone get married in the first place? But you see my point. There are many life destinations we’ve never visited but desire with all our hearts to see and experience. And our only option is to pick a path and hope it will get us there. But how do you know? Besides, in addition to life beind a series of decisions, life is a series of firsts. First date, first kiss, first semester away from home, first job, first marriage, first kid, first investment decision, first house, first loan… And every one of those firsts is a first step in a direction. Every first step down a path. How the heck are we supposed to know where those things go? It is our first!
The idea of making life decisions in arenas where we lack life experience should put a little fear in all our hearts. but I don’t run into many people paralyzed by indecision. Instead of carefully analyzing the destinations associated with the various path options offered, our tendency is to charge down the path of least resistance, oblivious to the obvious.
Let me explain. I’ve talked to far too many people who are trying desperately to backtrack down paths they wish they had never taken, usually in the financial or relational areas. Some have acquired too much debt or are in bad marriages. Others are entangled in business with people they wish they’d never met.
I imagine you’ve had a few of those conversations yourself. And isn’t it true that – as they tell you about how their marriages are upside-down, there finances are a wreck, the made the perfectly wrong career choice, they moved in with someone when they should have moved out – as they tell their stories, you are dying to ask, “Didn’t you see this coming? Wasn’t there anything along the way that gave you a heads-up as to where this was going to take you? Weren’t you even suspicious? Surely there were some early warning signs. Something?”
Well, while you may sit through those kinds of conversations wanting to ask those questions, I usually come right out and ask. That’s partly a pastor thing and partly a curiosity thing. And guess what? Nine out of ten times there were some red flags. Some hesitation, some early warning signs. Often they’ll admit someone did try to get their attention with a word of caution, but they ignored the advice. They figured everything would somehow work out. Every decision has an outcome, and every path has a destination. And so there they are, exactly where they don’t want to be – but exactly where there paths led them. And now life is complicated. Unnecessarily, because the warning signs were all in place. Again they were oblivious to the obvious. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
**This is the first of 4 excerpts that I will post.
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