“Everyone ends up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.”

That sentence changed my life several years ago. I read it in a book that spoke about living life intentionally and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s a powerful phrase. Everyone ends up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.

We all have dreams - things we’d like to accomplish – whether personally or relationally or financially or whatever. For example, all of us aspire to one day be wealthy – not necessarily for materialistic reasons, but at least so that we can be stable and secure and have the ability to give to those in need.

We all dream of getting in shape. I doubt there are many people reading this blog that wouldn’t like to shed a few extra pounds and improve their health – not necessarily to the point of being a supermodel, but at least to the point where we don’t have to think of an excuse every time we are invited to go to the swimming pool!

You have a dream about what your marriage should look like. You have a dream about what your relationships should look like. Your career, your spiritual life, your future…WE ALL HAVE DREAMS!

But the problem is that very few people translate those dreams into plans. A dream without a plan is nothing more than a wish (I think John Wooden said that but not sure). But a dream with a plan is just a few steps away from reality.

We all have dreams. No matter what the dream, I promise you that you can get there. I promise you that you can get there! You can achieve that dream of yours. I promise you that.

But I also promise you that you’ll never achieve that dream by accident. NEVER! No one ever woke up one morning and found that his broken marriage was fixed… or that he’d lost all that extra weight… or that he’d randomly gotten a promotion. I promise you that you can get all of those things, but I also promise you that you’ll never get there by accident.

Look no further than New Year’s Eve and the resolutions that come with it. Every single person started off this year (and the previous year and the previous year) with the best of intentions – to lose that weight, advance their career, fix their relationships, get on track with God, etc. But good intentions are not enough. A dream without a plan is nothing more than a wish. YOU NEED A PLAN!

That’s why I am going to dedicate some time to writing about my life plan and how I aim to live my life intentionally. Now please note that I am not claiming to be an expert on this by any means. In fact, one of my greatest struggles is keeping up with the plan that I have in place. But I am happy to share whatever lessons I’ve learned along the way – both about my successes and my failures.

So this week, I’ll write about the importance of having a life plan in place and the inevitable results of not having one. And then, beginning next week, I’ll dedicate two days a week (probably Thursday and Friday) to writing about one specific area and how to live that area of life on purpose – such as the area of Finances, Physical health, Relationship with God, Relationship with others, Time stewardship (I don’t call it time management, I call it time stewardship and you’ll see why) and other such topics.

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” -- John Pierpont Morgan

You wouldn’t get in a car and just start driving aimlessly unless had a plan of where you wanted to go and how you wanted to get there right? Well, if it’s that important to have a plan for a road trip, how much more important is it to have a plan for your life?

Discussion: what could life look like if you had a well thought out plan for your life?