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Back in the day, okay, waaay back in the day, just after finishing High School I set off on my first road trip in my old Hillman Minx....down to the Snowy Mountains. It was a wonderful trip and instilled in me a love of road-tripping which still excites me to this day. 
As I was a great fan of John Denver and his passion for nature and the outdoors, one of my aims on this trip was to hike up Mount Kosciusko, the highest peak in Australia, with my twelve-string guitar. Obviously, to record this epic moment for posterity, I was also hoping there would be someone else up there at the same time to take a photo on my old camera that did not have a timer function that worked! (And this was long before digital cameras and phones that took pictures!)

Anyway, with great enthusiasm I set off from a car park area and followed a sign that pointed towards the "tip of Australia", Kosciusko. It was quite a hike, and the few people I encountered along the way, all carrying water bottles and hiking sticks, looked at me with my guitar case rather curiously. Still, not deterred, I pressed on.

Thankfully, when I arrived at my summit destination there was someone else there to take my photo. Of course, I had to explain why I wanted the photo....channeling John Denver on top of the country's tallest peak, etc.
And that's when I discovered my error. 
This person dutifully informed me that I now stood on top of Australia's second-highest mountain, Mount Townsend. This explained why another mountain not far away actually did seem higher than the one I was on. And I had also wondered why there was no sign to mark the achievement of getting to the top of the nation's tallest peak. Now the penny dropped...it was because I hadn't got to the top of Mount Kosciusko.  I had taken the wrong path!

I found out later on, when I finally got back down to the base, that someone had turned the sign that pointed to Mount Kosciusko around and had it pointing to this other peak. I am sure it was done as a bit of a joke...but I wasn't laughing!
So, the photo here is not of John Denver (obviously), nor is it on top of Mount Kosciusko (unfortunately).
But it does serve as a reminder that we need to be very careful about which signs we follow, and what direction we take in life.

Sometimes we can believe that we are going in the right direction, but we may have deviated off the correct path. This might be because of choices that we make, or that we are following the less-than-stellar advice of someone else. Maybe we think we are on the right path but, in actual fact, we are not.

There is a wonderful bit of advice in Proverbs 3:5-6 that goes like this.....
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take."

Right at the moment, I need to be looking to the Lord and trusting Him to lead me on the right path. Maybe you are, too. I know that we, as a church, need to be doing that, not just leaning on our own knowledge and understanding. We want to know His way....and then be brave enough to follow it.

May this be our prayer....individually and as a church family. Lord, reveal to us the way You want us to go, and then lead us along the correct path. 

Think about it....I have heard many people talk about the joy of standing on top of Mount Kosciusko. But no one brags about being on top of Mount Townsend.
Let's not settle for second-best.
Let's make sure that we get it right and follow the Lord's direction. 
God bless you heaps!