Orchard Heights Road kinda bugs me. I know I’ve been living in Salem for about 6 months now but I still can’t seem to figure out which way is which on that particular road. I’m constantly having to pull out onto Orchard Heights from the smaller side streets and every time I do I sit there for a moment and wonder: “Which way do I go?” If I go one way it leads me back to the church or to our home but if I go the other way it leads to…who knows where! Actually it leads to Wallace Road and I only go there if I must (because it’s always packed with cars)!
If my wife is with me she instantly knows which direction to go. She’s a keeper.
But me, well…thank God for my Garmin GPS. You see, I am directionally challenged. I am a man that gets lost. But the crazy thing is that I rarely know that I’m lost WHILE I’m getting lost – it occurs to me only after I am officially lost. I wish I would realize it WHILE! It would be great to have that moment of clarity 100 or so yards after going past the point of not-lostness…then I could back the car up and get back on track. But no…the revelation of lostness occurs to me much later and takes me much farther!
When you want to get to a particular destination you better know what direction you are going. Direction determines destination.
Not intention. Intentions are not enough.
Intention says: “I want to go to Canada.” If that is my destination then I would be foolish to hop onto the I-5 Freeway heading SOUTH. That happens to be the direction to…um…Mexico. To get to Canada I must go NORTH. Direction determines destination, not just simple intentions (as pure as they may be).
In any organization, including that of a church, we must know what our destination is then take active steps to go that direction. Good intention is not enough. The same is true for our personal lives. I can’t tell you how many folks I encounter that want be in a specific place spiritually or relationally and yet fail to purposely go that direction. It is what I call The Great Disconnect. The destination does not match the direction. The beliefs are disconnected from the behavior.
God, through his Scripture, has given us a map for charting our direction. I want to continue digging into the Bible to discover where we are going!