short thought

yesterday at auburn church, andy stanley started a series called "destinations". he spoke on a passage in proverbs where solomon observes from afar a situation where he can basically see the future and knows where the situation is leading (he was the smartest guy in the world, mind you). stanley compared it to those moments where you see two cars at an intersection, and you KNOW they are about to hit each other, although neither of them have any idea...seconds later, BOOM! his first talk in this series was best summed up in a quote that he continued to repeat over and over:

"it's your PATH, not your INTENTION, that leads to a destination."

he applied it to many areas of life, and obviously the main application is our walk with Christ. but i think the other areas of life are important too. and it makes me think of my friends. i tend to like asking for advice about situations, but if it's not what i want to hear, i twist that person's credibility or advice in order to discount what they're saying. there's a situation in my life that i am constantly talking to others about, and i've made myself believe that it can end well. because that's my INTENTION. but the path that i constantly find myself on is going to lead to the end that i continued to be warned about. and i know that's much more realistic than the intention that i have. that was a confusing paragraph... but hopefully you see what i mean. the point is, an outsider's perspective is sometimes (usually) much more on point than my shaded, skewed view of reality. God puts these people in our lives for a reason... we must learn to listen to them.