“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will (1) loose the armor of kings,(2) to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; (3) I will go before you, and (4) make the crooked places straight: (Isa 45:1-3)

So I ask you, what makes a crooked path? I believe there are two causes of the crooked path and they both serve a purpose. The first cause of the crooked path is God Himself. It is on the crooked path that we learn to rely on Him. It is on the crooked path that we come to the end of ourselves. It is on the crooked path that we behold the beauty of the Lord and His glory. It is on the crooked path, that we must bend our will to His way. It is on the crooked path that we become entwined with Him. We injure ourselves when we try to straighten what God has made crooked. We must learn to bend with the Father and conform to His “way”. He is taking us to school along the crooked path. Learn to enjoy the scenery.

Charles Kuralt of CBS fame once said, “Interstate highways allow you to drive coast to coast, without seeing anything”. It’s the curse of the straight path. While it’s true that the shortest path between any two points is a straight line, the straight line is not always best. The devil always tells us, we deserve it now. Get rich quick. Take the shortest path. Don’t wait. Time’s a wasting! If you get on the straight path, (the interstate highway), before you have the Father’s heart built in and the old nature brought under, you may find yourself broadsided by a fast moving 18 wheeler, you didn’t see coming!

Give a young man his inheritance before he has the wisdom to steward it and you will lose both the inheritance and quite possibly your son. Before you give your child any inheritance, make sure you have passed on the inheritance of your heart. A great way to do that is on the difficult path. The crooked path. The inheritance of your heart is more “caught than taught” and the trials of life provide the perfect context to pass on the wealth of understanding God has deposited in your heart as you learned to bend to His will and His ways along the winding path.

Quick note: For an excellent teaching on what it means to pass on your wealth to the next generation, I suggest you get your hands on this. You won’t be disappointed.

Creating Wealth: Training Families to Build Dynasties
Eight Part Series. This Strategic Christian Services seminar focuses on the ultimate challenge we all face, in terms of making our lives truly count for God’s purposes in history-how, in our personal lives, families, careers, and even our nation, we pass on the inheritance of our hearts so that our values, vision, and wealth are not wasted by the next generation. For the first time, the entire Peacocke family (Dennis, Jan, Adam, Rachel, and Katherine) shares together in a conference, both individually and in a panel discussion. God is beginning to restore an understanding of generational transfer to us as a people and as a nation. Our intention is to provide you with practical tools to break the curse of single-generational living.

Here are links to the downloadable version and to the Audio CD version.