Imagine you wake up one day to find yourself living in a small town called Homerville, Georgia.  You have a small house, a car and a note that says, “Find your way to Turtle Lake, North Dakota by yourself to receive a BIG prize.”  You tuck the note in your pocket and sit back to contemplate the situation.  Over time, you start to see that Homerville is a comfortable and quiet little town.  Everything in Homerville is within walking distance and therefore you do not see a need to bother with the car right now.  While you continue to contemplate the BIG prize that is supposedly in North Dakota, you settle into life in Homerville.  You make friends and you find a job.  The job doesn’t pay much and it certainly doesn’t challenge you, but it’s a job and it is better than most of the jobs your new friends have.

After a little while, you begin to get bored.  The small town life does not have enough excitement for you.  You keep feeling the note in your pocket and wondering what it would be like to jump in that car to make your way to North Dakota and the BIG prize – whatever it is.  As you are imagining the adventures you could have, a little voice in your head begins to tell you how scary it would be to make that journey.  The voice starts to list all of the things that could possibly go wrong along the way and you begin to doubt you could ever make that trip alone, so you decide to stay in Homerville where it is safe and easy to get by.  Time passes and now you are really bored and feeling ready to make a change.  You are almost to that point of jumping in that car and heading to North Dakota when you realize you do not know how to get there.  You decide to check the car to see if there is a map in it and to your surprise, you find that it has a GPS with Turtle Lake already programmed into it!

Now that you have reached the depths of boredom and you have built up the courage to head north, you tell all your friends goodbye, telling them you are heading north where a big prize is waiting for you.  Your friends look at you as if you are crazy; some tell you to your face that you are crazy and some just pity you and talk behind your back.  They know there is nothing worthwhile out there and they know for sure that no BIG prize is waiting for you anywhere.  You don’t listen to them though.  You are determined and energized as you jump in the car and start out on this new and hopefully exciting adventure.  You have traveled in the direction the GPS has told you to go when the GPS tells you to take a left turn and head south for 100 miles.  It seems strange to you that you would need to head south, but you trust the GPS and head south anyway.  While you are driving along, that little voice comes back again and this time it is telling you that you cannot be going the right direction.  You dismiss the voice and focus all of your attention on the directions from the GPS, after all, it is the expert here and it surely has to be right.  And at the end of that 100 miles, it tells you to turn left and head east for 100 miles… The voice in your head is now screaming at you, telling you the GPS is wrong and if you make that left turn, you will end up back at Homerville.   You pull into a rest stop where you sit paralyzed and confused.

Now you begin to hear an internal conflict raging in your head.  The voices are screaming at each other – one is blaming the other for ever convincing you to take the risk to head towards some unknown and uncertain prize and the other voice is saying that the road trip has been better than sitting in that boring little town wasting away.  You begin to beat the steering wheel and dashboard.  You are angry, frustrated, scared, and feeling lost.  You know if you go back to Homerville everyone will laugh at you and say, “I told you so.”  You are beating the dashboard harder and sobbing when all of a sudden the GPS goes blank.  Then the voice of reason calmly and rationally kicks in.  This voice tells you to enter in the directions for Turtle Creek, North Dakota one more time.  After a few moments, the directions pop up, you scroll through the turn-by-turn map, and you begin to see that if you follow these new directions, you will be heading north and end up in Turtle Creek, North Dakota.  After a little more checking you find that the previous programmed directions were for Turtle Creek, Florida.  You were heading towards the wrong Turtle Creek!  You realize that you never verified the directions in the GPS to begin with.  You followed the directions as the so-called expert told you, but they were not the directions for where you wanted to go.

After you regain your composure and gather your wits about you, you turn the car around and make the journey north.  You have a few setbacks along the way including a flat tire, which you fix, and a few unexpected detours that the GPS could not help you through, but you figure them out and get back on course.  You keep focusing on the BIG prize waiting for you and as you get closer, your excitement grows.  You begin to imagine what is waiting for you.  You think about all of the wonderful things you have secretly longed for over the years.  Along those long lonely highways, you have plenty of time to imagine clearly everything down to the smallest detail.  You think about fame, fortune, family and a future of fun.  The anticipation builds so much that you do not even realize that all doubt is gone.  You do not even think about the possibility that there won’t be a BIG prize in North Dakota for you.  You only focus on all of the possibilities that are ahead of you.

With joy and enthusiasm, you drive into Turtle Creek, North Dakota.  Upon entering the town square, you see a banner hanging above the main street with your name on it welcoming you!  The town’s people rush to greet you, telling you they have been waiting for you.  The people are warm, friendly, and eager to take you to your BIG prize.  Your heart is pumping and you are filled with delight with all of the excitement around you.  As you make your way to the little gazebo in the center of the square, you see a BIG box with a BIG red bow on top.  You are told that within that box is your BIG prize.  One of the voices in your head tells you to run up there, rip open the box, and claim your prize.  Another voice warns you that the prize may not meet your expectations.  You think back on your journey with all the trials, tribulations, and self-doubt and how you overcame it all.  You reflect on the lessons you learned along the way and your eyes fill with pride – pride in yourself.

You make your way to the box as the crowd gathers around to support and encourage you.  You feel the energy all around you – and you open the box.  Within that box is the BIGGEST prize you could ever hope for or imagine.  You know instantly that the journey, with all of its ups and downs was worth it.  You knew at that instant that leaving that safe, cold and status-quo life in Homerville was worth it.  You worked hard for this BIG prize and you will enjoy every moment of it!

As you celebrate with your new friends over a big feast, you notice a note next to your plate.  It looks strangely familiar and you hesitate picking it up.  It looks just like the note from Homerville telling you of a BIG prize in Turtle Creek.  You pick it up and it reads, “Enjoy your time in Turtle Creek.  The journey does not end here.  Soon, you will learn it’s time to move on to receive your next BIG prize.”