Are You On the Right Track?

Sometimes the track can lock us in place, tying us to a direction we never quite expected but somehow feels comfortable.

I feel the pull ahead of me. It draws me, half participant, half prisoner, in the direction I know is coming. I’ve been on this track for some time now and I feel simultaneously grateful and sad that there are few surprises.

How Did I Get Here?

Sometimes life becomes a track we lock into. We seem to click our people and our jobs and our church into a track that sets our course for the next day, season, lifetime. We watch out the window of our life wondering how we got here, wondering if maybe we fell asleep because we don’t remember choosing the path we’re on.

We never chose the path, just like we never chose our fate. We only chose a thousand tiny pieces that got us to this place when we weren’t looking. Life can do that, move forward when we’re not looking.

And now we wonder, as the landscape speeds past the window and our heart catches a glimpse of a different track, a different path, how did I get here?

But really the how isn’t what matters most. The real question we need to ask ourselves is much harder: is this where I want to be?

Direction and the Possibilities

The possibilities of answers scare even the bold because it feels like so much rests in between the question and the answer.

Where do I want to be?

Am I there?

If I say no, does that mean I’ve made a mistake?

Does that mean I’m ungrateful?

Am I stuck here or put here?

And what would it take to change direction?

The unspoken can scare us into complacency as we watch the world fly by looking out the window of a life we’re unsure of.

Sometimes scary questions and scarier answers lead to a more purposeful, beautiful life. —> Are You On the Right Track? #howdidigetherebook #howdidigethere #howdidigetherebooktour Share on X

Let’s Ask the Questions

Christine Caine’s latest release isn’t afraid of asking these hard questions. I think that’s what I love about it. We can talk about faith and fear. We can talk about being tired and uncertain. We can ask how we ended up where we are. And better yet, is this where we want to be.

It’s not about self-helping your way through a path of discovery. It’s all about that honest relationship with Jesus, even in the questions.

Even better than that: it’s about finding our way off the track into the arms of the Father.

So, as I sit here, still and scared, with my hair whipping my face I cannot help but think that we need to be willing to ask the hard questions. And scarier still we need to answer them and act on those answers. Life was never meant to lock us into the predictable, but to inspire us to do the unpredictable.