The Whipped Man

I used to love cracking the whip at buddies of mine that had to go to the opera while the rest of us were going to play basketball.

I like to think I’m the least whipped man in the world, but yesterday I was on the phone with my wife and came to a realization that Tonia basically controls all of the decision making process. Then I got in my car after work and the DJ’s were discussing what constitutes a whipped man. Even this morning on a different station the same subject came up. So naturally I ask you…

What are the signs that a man is whipped?

Filed under: Control, Friends, Love, Men, Pansies, Relationships, Whipped Men, Women

Control II

Control – Mute Math

Take control of the atmosphere
Take me far away from here
There is no better loss than to lose myself in You
In a parachute to glide, I am captive in Your sky
Surrender has somehow become so beautiful

Take control of the atmosphere
Take control of the atmosphere
You can take my world, You can fill the air
Take control, Take control

It’s such a beautiful surrender
It’s such a beautiful surrender
It’s such a beautiful surrender
It’s such a beautiful surrender

Move me up through the darkest clouds
Till I’ve lost in the sun every shadow of doubt
There is no better find than to find myself with You
In a fog You are all I see
I’m inviting You closer with each time I breathe
Surrender has somehow become so beautiful

Take control of the atmosphere
Take control of the atmosphere
There is no reason I should breathe unless You’re in the air
Take control

Its such a beautiful surrender
Its such a beautiful surrender
And I’m calling out
Would You take control

Filed under: Control, Lyrics, Mute Math

Control

I’m a self-confessed control freak. You can ask my wife for confirmation of the depth of my depravity. I’m not even sure where it comes from. For some reason I don’t really trust anyone other than myself. If something is going to go wrong, and I’m going to feel the effects of it, I want to be the person responsible. That’s the biggest reason I hate flying. It’s a control issue.

But I live in a world that is completely unpredictable. Take Saturday for example. I had a nice little day planned. A little lawn work, visit some garage sales to look for a nice used bike, catch a movie or two, enjoy some much needed relaxation with the family… It sure didn’t work out that way.

I woke up Saturday morning to find out my brother was in the hospital with a huge kidney stone, and facing the possibility of surgery. So I headed up to be with him. While I was there I heard that my good buddy Sam took his wife to the hospital for some acute stomach pain, and they couldn’t figure out the cause. Around lunchtime I snuck out to go grab a bite to eat and while I was out I received a call that my grandfather had just passed away. A couple hours later my wife calls and tells me that her sister was just in a car accident. All of this happened within a couple hours, and within a few miles, of each other. And not a single one of them were within my span of control.

The one thing that I could control was my reaction. And instead of running to the one thing that is constant in life, I avoided Him. I was already in a funk going into Saturday, and this sure didn’t help. Late that night I was trying to figure out how to get all my responsibilities taken care of so I could skip Sunday all together. I wasn’t in the mood to be around people, or in the mood to sing cheery songs.

Turns out that was the one place I needed to be, and should have been the first place I turned. All morning long I kept getting encouraged by my friends and family, the worship brought me face to face with the Father, I heard stories of life transformations, and the lesson was about God being in control. (Funny how that worked out.)

Later that afternoon I was sitting in a funeral home with my grandma and chatting up stories about pops. I had been avoiding telling people that he was in a better place because I honestly didn’t know that to be true. But grandma told me how just last week she was talking to him about Jesus, and how grandpa had said he trusted Him and loved Him. It brought tears to my eyes and further convinced me that I control very little more than my reaction to the world around me. And boy do I have a lot of work to do.

“We cannot change the direction of the wind… but we can adjust our sails.” —Anonymous

Filed under: Control, Death, Faith, Life, Quotes

I Don’t Own A Gun

I didn’t really want to post on this with fears of being insensitive, but timing is everything and now is the best time to post on this.

Nobody in America is unaware of what happened at the campus of Virginia Tech yesterday. And I dare say nobody in America is without sympathy for those involved. The problem I have is that this incident allows the anti-gun people to rally for their cause by stirring up reactionary and knee-jerk responses.

How soon people forget that our right to own a gun is directly responsible for our freedoms. I’m not even talking about us verses other nations. I’m talking about us verses ourselves. The main reason for our rights to bare arms is so that we can protect ourselves from our own government. What foresight our founding fathers had. (Not really, they just went through it themselves).

No, our problem isn’t the guns. Our problem is that evil exists in this world and always will. Our problem is that we don’t love enough. Our problem is that we don’t educate enough. Our problem is that we are self-centered as a society. Our problem is the church is spending more time fighting amongst themselves and not enough time reaching those with real, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. We failed that kid at Virginia Tech on so many levels. Don’t think taking away guns will fix that.

The next time you come in contact with a troubled soul. Get to know them and show them the love of God—in any and every way possible. That would be a good start in preventing these types of occurrences from happening.

Filed under: Control, Evil, Guns, Virginia Tech