[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhose-hands-are-at-the-controls":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhose-hands-are-at-the-controls-surround":80},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":63,"date":64,"description":16,"extension":65,"image":66,"meta":67,"minRead":68,"navigation":69,"path":70,"postType":71,"publication":72,"publicationUrl":66,"seo":73,"stem":74,"topics":75,"__hash__":79},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fwhose-hands-are-at-the-controls.md","Whose Hands Are at the Controls?",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"Matthew",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":59},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,29,32,35,38,41,44,47,50,53,56],[14,15,16],"p",{},"Are you a control freak? Does something inside of you want to be in charge? Do you prefer a safe, stable environment where nothing changes and everything goes your way?",[14,18,19],{},"You'd better get over it. This is not a Burger King world where you can have it your way.",[14,21,22],{},"If I had it my way, my metabolism would be the same at age 50 as it was at age 20. If I had it my way, my house would never need repairs and premium ice cream would contain no fat grams.",[14,24,25],{},"But a lot of things are out of my control. Jesus asked, \"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?\" (Matthew 6:27). Another possible translation is, \"Who of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his height?\" Worry can't make me taller or lengthen my life. If anything, it can shorten my life!",[14,27,28],{},"I can't control . . . The weather, The stock market, The news, or The past.",[14,30,31],{},"I can't make . . . Every traffic light green, Every bad person nice, Every body cell healthy, Every atheist believe.",[14,33,34],{},"I can't control how others . . . Think, drive, vote— Or how they treat me.",[14,36,37],{},"I can't change . . . The outcome of a football game by yelling at the TV, My muscle tone by reading a book about exercise, or Another person's heart simply by telling him he ought to change.",[14,39,40],{},"I can't control . . . What gasoline costs, What the United Nations decides, or What terrorists do.",[14,42,43],{},"But I am not powerless. I can choose . . . How I will react to my circumstances, and what I will do with my opportunities.",[14,45,46],{},"I can decide that I will . . . Trust and obey the Lord, and Use the gifts God has given me.",[14,48,49],{},"I can contribute . . . To causes I believe in and To people I care about.",[14,51,52],{},"I can pray, and when I do, I participate in the grand scheme of events in ways beyond my comprehension. My prayers do not manipulate God, but they do make a difference. C. S. Lewis said one reason God wants us to pray is so that we can experience \"the dignity of causality.\" We are not puppets on a string, mindless robots acting out a pre-scripted drama. Through prayer, God allows us to share in the powerful process of bringing reconciliation to our broken world.",[14,54,55],{},"In prayer I can cast all my cares on the Lord . . . Choosing to trust his grace, Rely on his love, Believe his promises.",[14,57,58],{},"God didn't go on vacation and leave me in charge, but he has given me the ability to choose. And the most important choice I can make is simply to say to the Father with all my heart, \"Thy will be done.\"",{"title":60,"searchDepth":61,"depth":61,"links":62},"",2,[],"First Look","2005-01-09","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhose-hands-are-at-the-controls","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fwhose-hands-are-at-the-controls",[76,77,78],"Spiritual Formation","Biblical Theology","Christian Unity","1E1f8QQ5gR2FD_tGLi5tjDyuE4Rr7Zlz399cI1QeYAw",[81,86],{"title":82,"path":83,"stem":84,"description":85,"children":-1},"Who Would Have Thought . . . ?","\u002Farticles\u002Fwho-would-have-thought","articles\u002Fwho-would-have-thought","My wife Candy and I have known Mindy Smith since she was a baby. Her dad Larry ministered with the Christian Church in Nesconset, New York, while our family served with a church nearby. Larry and I sometimes worked on sermons together. I remember sitting at his kitchen table when young Mindy came bouncing home from school.",{"title":87,"path":88,"stem":89,"description":90,"children":-1},"Why Are We so Negative?","\u002Farticles\u002Fwhy-are-we-so-negative","articles\u002Fwhy-are-we-so-negative","I suspect one of the most frequently violated verses in all the Bible is Philippians 2:14: \"Do everything without complaining or arguing.\""]