Review and summary of Andy Stanley’s (Astan) book ‘Principle of the Path’
Yeah. Overall this was a good read and I would give it a 9 out of 10. I really enjoyed reading it, especially his stories, and found it to be very helpful. I only wish he would have included more stories! I would recommend it to others, and plan to re-read it in the future.
The book is about this principle: ‘Direction, not intention, determines destination.’ He’s talking about how the choices we make in life, not our hopes and dreams, determine where we end up.
He starts by explaining what a principle and path is, and the principle itself. The main reason he gives why this principle is so important, is that if not leveraged wisely we are going to find ourselves in places we don’t want to be. He encourages readers to not bank on the ‘exceptions’ of life (‘but I know one person who did… and it didn’t happen’), but to plan and live as if the future is now. Another good point he made was how while experience may be the ‘best’ teacher, it isn’t when realize it takes away our most valuable commodity – time.
He then writes about how to make wise choices. He writes a chapter on not relying on our deceptive selves who seek happiness more than truth. Another way to make wise choices is to submit to God in all our decisions, acknowledging his authority over every aspect of our life. The chapter following describes how the law of God should be included in our decision making process. And finally he writes about chasing after wise council, basically people who are where you want to be someday, and then asking how they got there, or better yet, what they would do in your situation.
The second to last chapter is about how attention determines our direction, so be intentional towards what you give your attention. And the last chapter is carefully written about how when we realize some dreams have vanished forever and cannot ever be attained, the safest thing to do is trust God. This is very sad and very hard…but true and good at the same time.
Thanks for reading,
David
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