Mon.7.6.15...A Wise Man Keeps Himself Under Control...Prov.29:1-14

Do you ever blow your stack? Lose your temper? Blow a fuse? It's true most people do. How can you overcome such? When I was a prodigal in high school, I got involved in a T.A. group- Transactional Analysis. It was based on a best selling pop psychology book, entitled, I'm OK, You're OK. Proud people would have titled it, I'm OK, You Stink. The Bible would remind us that None are OK. Anyway, the group leader advocated a practice called, "towel pounding" to release one's inner rage. (To be fair, it wasn't recommended in the book.) You were given a rolled up towel as you sat on your knees and told to imagine the face of the person you had anger toward and pound their face into the floor. Shout in rage if you wish. It was a wild time! The belief was that at the end of that towel pounding, you would feel better and wouldn't have all that pent up anger to vomit on the person the next time you were in conflict with him or her. You would be OK, even if they still weren't. The only problem with this practice was that studies later proved, like working a muscle, it only strengthened inner anger and explosions. Oops! What a foolish practice. If only they would have read our passage in Proverbs today, they would have known, "The fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control" 29:11.

As I've said before, I'm not typically a "yeller." But I certainly have raised my voice several decibels at times. (Okay, my wife might call it yelling, but I know there's a lot more in me to get to that level.) It should signal to the other person that you don't feel that you're being heard. So if your wife is raising her voice at the kids or you, it's probably because she doesn't feel she is being listened to. So lower your voice and say, "I'm sorry, I want to understand you better..." Watch how her volume will lower when she feels that you are trying to listen to her words and feelings. If you feel that she is not listening to you, please do not keep raising the volume. Your wife is not deaf and neither are the neighbors. "A wise man keeps himself under control." How do you do that when your adrenaline is pumping and you are jacked to go into the ring? As we've recommended before, take a time out. Go to your separate corners. Go to a different room. Take a walk. Give yourself at least a half hour for your blood pressure and heart rate to calm down. Self control over one's emotional displays is vital. A man without self control is like a broken dam, bringing great damage to those dwelling nearby (compare Prov.25:28 and 17:14). "Wise men turn away anger" Prov.29:8. 

How can we calm our souls? First get away from the conflict situation. Then try breathing deeply and force yourself to think about something other than what just happened. As you start to cool off, try smiling, whistling, humming or singing. It's very soothing to the soul. Just try doing so and still remain angry. Betcha can't do it:) While others are still snared by their sinful anger, you will be overcoming it. "An evil man is snared by his own sin, but a righteous one can sing and be glad" 29:6. Singing is very therapeutic. It won't work until you calm down a bit. So first remove yourself from the conflict. 

Speaking of singing, this is the only reference to such in Proverbs, though the Psalms repeatedly speak of singing. Psalms is aimed at relating to our great God, who is worthy of our songs of praise. Proverbs is aimed at relating to our fellow man. So let's close out today on an upbeat note. It's been a while since I asked you of a good Christian song that you've been enjoying lately. So...

1.- Please share the name of a song that you've been enjoying. It could be a new release or an old goldie. If you want to include its YouTube link, that would be all the better. The enemy can't stand a singing saint! It's a great way to resist the devil. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" James 4:7.

2.- Read Prov.29:1-14 and write out the verse that you selected and some of your thoughts regarding it.

Announcements
Welcome to M3 Michael Gonzalez! Michael lives in Iowa and is going to be marrying Dave Heidekrueger's daughter, Sarah. Congratulations Michael! I know Sarah and she is a wonderful, godly gal. I also think Michael and Dave are establishing a great way to regularly connect with each other around God's word. (What kind of guy may one day want to date and marry one of my daughters? It would sure give me peace of mind knowing he was a MANLY man. So maybe this should be a dating standard- You want to date my daughter? First join M3 :) 

Wow, there was some tight competition this week as you see looking at the weekly team averages. Again these do not include the scores of  your team captains. They are focusing on helping you. Please cooperate with them as they may call you to remind you to put your points on the board. When you neglect to do this you are hurting your team as you can also see. Better yet, just get in the habit of going directly from commenting on the blog to the scoreboard. Also remember that the those of you were Unstoppable this past week have a U next to your name.

As you go to the scoreboard, remember that today's scores represent the entire weekend. You'll notice that the team I temporarily had is no more. The men of that team are now with other teams.  

Fire Team 1			#REF!	30.14		Fire Team 4			#REF!	25.33
Eddie Morales	U	R5	50			George Rabiela	U	R1	70
Phil Raymond			5			Rich Guardiola	U	R1	30
Alex Dyckman	U		26			Dave Heidekruger	U	R2	30
Ismael Andrade	U	R2	46			Chuy Cervantes			16
Luis Ortiz			24			Fire Team 5			#REF!	31.2
Gary Remson		R1	44			Jack Rogers	U	R4	112
James Schmidt	U		31			Andre Vargas	U		24
William Dyckman			35			Armando Hernandez	U		46
Fire Team 2			#REF!	31		George Doherty	U	R1	26
Sam Vargas	U	R3	63			Jose Billegas	U		45
Oscar Nunez			24			Roger Vinlasaca		R1	15
Israel Fuentes	U	R1	28			Fire Team 6			#REF!	22.4
Flo Juarez			0			Dave Garratt	U	R?	74
Lou Ojeda	U		72			Horacio De La Torre			30
Fire Team 3			#REF!	32.4		Ed Lake	U		40
Robert Roman	U	R1	58			Dave DeBoer	U		16
Guillermo Baez			40			Mark Estrada			17
Vince Diaz	U	R1	35			Rick Barrera			9
Antonio Palomar		R1	15
Nic Palhegyi			23
Osiris Alday	U		49