Predicting the Future

Matthew 7:24–27 KJV 1900

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

What if you could predict your own future? You actually come closer than you realize to predicting your future. You made comments like this:

I should have see that coming!

We’ve actually tried to predict other people’s future by saying:

You should have seen that coming!

What if there really are financial paths that lead to predictable financial destinations? What if there are relational paths that lead to predictable relational destinations? What if there are emotional and spiritual paths that lead to specific emotional and spiritual destinations? I don’t have to convince you that there are dietary paths that lead to specific

And we all know people whose lifestyle decisions led them to predictable predicaments. But what if those we-all-saw-it-coming scenarios reflect a universal law? What if there is a single unifying principle that governs what happens not only on the highway but in every area of life? I believe there is. I call it the principle of the path.

The principle of the path is being applied to you every moment of every day. Principles are different from rules or laws. Perhaps an example will help. When you were in high school, you probably studied Archimedes’ principle. Ring a bell? No? It ought to, because every time you get in a pool, a boat, the bathtub, or a cruise ship, you are being impacted by Mr. Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 2). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (pp. 2-3). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

The principle that explains why a drowning man sinks is the same principle that explains why the flotation device the lifeguard throws in his direction floats.

When the principle of buoyancy is leveraged, things float. When this principle is ignored or misapplied, things sink. According to Archimedes’ principle, a body immersed in liquid receives an upward thrust from the bottom toward the top, equal to the weight of the displaced liquid. So five-ounce pebbles sink, and a fifty-one ton battleship floats. Now, Archimedes was an inventor as well as a mathematician, but he did not invent this principle—he discovered it.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 3). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

If you grew up around church or on a farm, you may be familiar with the principle of the harvest. As is the case with Archimedes’ principle, whether or not you are familiar with it, you’ve been impacted by it. The principle of the harvest states that we reap what we sow. Sow apple seeds and you will reap a harvest of apple trees. Sow watermelon seeds and you get—you guessed it—watermelons. Nothing new there. This cause-and-effect relationship is in place whether you know about it or not. And it is in place whether you agree with it or not.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 3). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Chances are you’ve heard the principle of the harvest applied outside the realm of agriculture. The principle of the harvest applies to friendships, finances, and marriage. What you put into something impacts what you can expect to get out of it. Neglect your marriage or your health and the outcome is predictable. You experienced this principle at work throughout your time in school. What you put in determined what you got out. This principle operated in the background of your life whether you were aware of it or not. And if someone had brought it to your attention and you refused to accept it as true, it really would not have mattered. You were going to reap what you sowed anyway. That’s just how principles work. And the principle of the path is no different.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Perhaps you’ve heard someone make the argument that experience is the best teacher. That may be true, but that’s only half the truth. Experience is often a brutal teacher. Experience eats up your most valuable commodity: time. Learning from experience can eat up years. It can steal an entire stage of life. Experience can leave scars, inescapable memories, and regret. Sure, we all live and learn. But living and learning don’t erase regret. And regret is more than memory. It is more than cerebral. It’s emotional. Regret has the potential to create powerful emotions—emotions with the potential to drive a person right back to the behavior that created the regret to begin with. If regret can be avoided, it should be. And the principle of the path will empower you to do just that.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (pp. 4-5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

How absurd would it be for someone who was lost, miles away from where he wanted to be, to say, “I need a solution!”? Or to ask you to fix his problem? Wouldn’t make sense, would it? When someone is where he doesn’t want to be, he already knows the solution; what he needs is direction. There is no fix for being lost. 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.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 7). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Being lost or far from where you want to be is not a problem to be solved. There is no instant solution for being lost. One gets to the place one wants to be the same way one got to the place one didn’t want to be—by putting one foot in front of the other and moving in a specific direction. Cars have problems that can be fixed. Computers have problems that can be fixed. Lawn mowers have problems that can be fixed. But generally speaking, people have directions that need to be changed.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 7). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Most personal problems can’t be fixed.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 11). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (pp. 11-12). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Like it never happened!

Most personal problems can’t be fixed.

Most personal problems can be avoided!

Looking ahead we are often deceived into thinking that life is a series of unrelated decisions, and somehow we will end up where we want to be simply by force of will or luck. Or as I’ve heard so many people say, “It’ll work out somehow.” But if you can see a path in the rearview mirror that reflects where you’ve been and explains where you are, then there must be a path ahead of you as well. A path that, like all paths, has a specific and oftentimes predictable destination.

And that brings us, at last, to the principle of the path. Here it is:

Direction—not intention—determines our destination.

The direction you are currently traveling— relationally, financially, spiritually, and the list goes on and on—will determine where you end up in each of those respective arenas. This is true regardless of your goals, your dreams, your wishes, or your wants. The principle of the path trumps all those things. Your current direction will determine your destination. And like every principle, you can leverage this one to your advantage or ignore it to your disadvantage. Just as there are paths that have led us to places we never intended to be, there are paths that lead us away from those places as well.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 14). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (pp. 14-15). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

It breaks my heart how many people I speak with who don’t connect the dots between the choices they make and the outcomes they experience. They’ve come to believe the popular notion that as long as their intentions are good, as long as their hearts are in the right place (whatever that means), as long as they do their best and try their hardest, it doesn’t really matter which path they take. They believe somehow they will end up in a good place. But life doesn’t work that way.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 15). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Proverbs 27:12 KJV 1900

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; But the simple pass on, and are punished.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 15). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 20). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

This verse introduces us to two kinds of people—the prudent and the simple. Elsewhere in Proverbs these fellow travelers are referred to as wise and naive. Both are headed down the same path. Both “see danger,” but they react differently. And, consequently, they experience two very different outcomes.

“The prudent see danger and take refuge . . .”

In the book of Proverbs, the term prudent is used interchangeably with wise. So a prudent person is a wise person. The implication here is that a prudent man or woman understands that all of life is connected. He is aware of the cause-and-effect relationship between what he chooses today and what he experiences tomorrow, what he chooses during one season of life and his experience in a future season—for better or worse.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 39). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

“. . . but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”

Simple is used interchangeably with the term naive. In contrast to the prudent, the simple or naive person lives as though life is disconnected; as if there is no connection between today’s choices and tomorrow’s experiences. When the simple “see danger,” they don’t take evasive action. They keep going.

Matthew 7:24

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 40). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Matthew 7:24–27 KJV 1900

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Today’s weather will be tomorrow’s weather.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 40). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Matthew 7:27 KJV 1900

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

.....and it fell not: for they were so lucky.

.....and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Are you living in a direction that is not going to lead you where you really want to be?

Jesus give us an invitation to Follow him.

Principle of the Path

Direction determines our destination.

What gets our attention determines our direction and, ultimately, our destination.

Like my driver’s ed teacher warned me, we have a tendency to steer toward the things that have our attention. The things we give our attention to in life influence the direction of our lives.

Interestingly enough, there is a phrase we heard just about every day growing up that answers that question: pay attention!

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 136). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Why pay? Pay implies price. Pay implies cost. Pay implies giving away something of value. Loss. And it is this sense of loss that keeps us from paying attention to the things that deserve our attention and would serve us best in the future.

When we pay for something, we expect to receive something of equal or greater value in return. And that is precisely what happens when we pay attention to the right things.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 142). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Pay attention to what matters most!

Instead of seeing your current situation as a problem to be fixed, think of it as a direction that needs to be changed. In what area are you moving in the wrong direction? Where will you end up if you stay on this path? Is that your preferred future?

The process of changing directions may be slow and methodical, like the man who built his house on the rock. What steps can you take this week to change directions?

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (pp. 142-143). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Stanley, Andy. The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 143). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.