Have you ever noticed that some people seem to walk through life as if they were on a straight track to a goal set very early, while others walk a path with unexpected twists and turns?

My own path was more the latter. I went off to college, having finally chosen English literature over my interest in linguistics. I wanted to double major in theater, until I figured out that all my careful planning with the catalog to make that happen in five years fell apart when faced with actual class schedules. So instead I focused on finishing the English degree in three years and started my master’s, firmly on the path to becoming an English professor. Then life happened, and I ended up switching fields entirely to computer science and working as a programmer. After a couple of years in that role, I realized I missed teaching, which I’d gotten a taste of as a graduate student in English, so I switched focus again, to full-time study. After finishing my Ph.D., I did finally become a professor, just of computer science.

In relation to that journey, I’ve long been intrigued by one of the promises from Proverbs:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
     and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
     and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

What does God mean when he says he’ll make our paths straight, when mine never looked very straight to me?

Now, this promise does have a prerequisite, so you may ask whether that prerequisite was met. I believe it was. Every step of that journey, I was praying and asking for God’s guidance, making the choice to trust him rather than my own wisdom. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t stumble and sin along the way; I certainly did, especially during those early college years. The big life decisions, however, were all made in a time of relative closeness to God and with a great desire to follow his lead.

Why then, the twists in the path? I believe that while I see the path as twisting, God sees it as straight. It was not the logical and obvious way to get where I ended up, but it was God’s straight path there for me.

What makes me say that? Part of it is trust in God, but part of it is what I can see looking back.

• Had I not been an English major, I might never have gotten to know one of my dearest friends. That would have been a sad thing for both of us. And there were other people whom I would be very sorry not to have met along the way.
• Much of what has shaped my teaching of computer science, I learned from English professors and from the excellent mentoring I received as a graduate teaching assistant in English. I believe that I became a far better teacher than I would be without that experience.
• My writing was much improved in my years in English, and writing has been a hugely important skill for me both professionally and personally.
• Moreover, having teaching and research experience in two very different disciplines was valuable both in my work on university-wide committees and in my role as a department chair.

I believe God used (and is using) what were twists and turns in the human view of the path to create a path that is the straight path for me to be where (and who) he wants me to be. I even believe that God can and will straighten paths for those of us who walk off the path God clearly showed them as long as we come back to trust in him fully.

My father’s path was an example of this. He was first called to preach at the tender age of 14. He was mentored by his pastor at the time and given some very early opportunities to preach. Despite changing pastors and moving, he stayed focused on that call to become a minister through most of his teenage years, and was licensed to preach by Hoffmantown Baptist Church when he was not quite 17. During his college years, however, he lost sight of his calling and made some unwise and even sinful decisions.

These decisions put Dad on a track to become a computer programmer in a bank and then at IBM. He was having great success on this track, including some leadership opportunities. However, he had also remained a committed believer who continued to grow in faith, despite having made some major life decisions without a focus on God’s guidance.

One day, God got his attention and firmly called him back to the ministry, and he responded positively. There were a few other twists in the plan–switching planned seminaries at very much the last minute because of hearing God’s instruction to go to Midwestern instead of Southwestern, leaving his growing church to become a missionary, losing his visa after 13 years of service in Indonesia–but those all fit under the umbrella of turns made under God’s direction.

I think the most powerful testimony to God’s ability to make a path straight in my father’s life was the way in which God used those years as a programmer and leader in the secular world in his roles as a missionary and missions leader later. His understanding of finance, of the IT world, of business in general, and of leadership helped shape him into the highly respected Executive Vice President and Interim President that he became.

What’s my point here?

First, I think we need to trust that God knows what he’s doing when he leads us somewhere. When the twists and turns of life don’t make sense to us, he still has a purpose, and he is using them to create the straightest possible path to the person he wants us to be in the place where he wants to use us.

Finally, I think that we should trust that all is not lost even when we have deliberately wandered away from the path God has called us to. If we come back, if we choose now to trust God with our whole heart, he can and will make our paths straight again.

Photo by Justin Ackison on Unsplash