controlled or controlling?
At the start of this year, a friend of mine made a statement that set the tone for the rest of my year. Nicola remains convinced that “control” is at the root of many of our internal struggles—with self-control being the most challenging to master. We get angry or lose heart when we can’t control people or circumstances. We lack discipline and lose control over our own thoughts, words, or actions, and spiral into a self-destructive cycle—hurting ourselves and others.
temper, temper!
It was the first month of the 40th year of wandering in the wilderness. Still grieving over the death of his beloved sister Miriam (Numbers 20:1), Moses had to cope with the rebellion of his people. The second generation of Israelites who had been freed from captivity was about to enter the Promised Land.
But they were committing the same…
oops!
In late 2010, a commercial airline copilot had one major oops moment. While the lead pilot had left the cockpit for a break, his clumsy crewman knocked the control column forward as he attempted to adjust his seat. The jet, which had been cruising at 37,000 feet, instantly nosedived more than 2,000 feet. The pilot managed to return to the cockpit,…
“we are safe!”
According to a 2010 Pew Forum on Religion report, 53 percent of Christians in the US did not know that Martin Luther was the person who inspired the Protestant Reformation. So they wouldn’t know that on October 31, 1517, in the little German town of Wittenberg, Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the church door—inviting scholars to debate the use…
obedience and action
Francis Marion Tarwater, Flannery O’Connor’s young, disturbed character in The Violent Bear It Away, came of age in the backwoods—far from the town and other people. Tarwater’s uncle, a bizarre man who had ecstatic visions and believed he was a prophet, raised the boy. When his uncle died, however, Tarwater headed to the city to find his remaining family. Once…
the downward spiral
Lori, Tyler, and Bandit the dog were sitting on the couch. Tyler reached out to touch Bandit, and Bandit attacked him. In surprise, Tyler withdrew his hand. Alarmed, Lori reached out and put her hands around Bandit in a caressing, consoling way.
Cesar Millan, known as the Dog Whisperer, said to Lori, “I love dogs. . . . But I…
woof, woof
An Old Testament proverb says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness” (Proverbs 26:11). And I’ll be the first to say, “Woof, woof.” More times than I care to admit, I foolishly feast on my own sinful puke—figuratively speaking. And it always leaves me (and others) feeling sick in the stomach.
What’s the deal? Why…
happy hour
Paul Sneddon took the corner too fast. Crashing through a wooden barrier, he flipped his Ford Laser. When he realized there was no way out of the wreck, he popped open a brew and drank it down while waiting to be rescued. Later, he admitted that at the time of the accident, he “had been drinking for 4 days straight.”…
random strangers
I recently read an article about a site where Web chatters are exposed to random strangers from around the world. As the article states, “One minute you’re chatting via Webcam with a mom of two [in the US] and the next you’re staring at a stark-naked man in Bangkok.” One psychiatrist calls the site “a predator’s paradise.” Definitely not a…
