Flashbacks before my eyes. Bad, ugly memories. Remembering with horror what I almost did. No, it’s not a drug trip. The strongest drug I’ve ever taken has been Lortab after a dental surgery and I passed out after taking it.  🙂  You know how they say, “Now, there’s a person who can’t hold their liquor”? They would say, “Now there’s a person who can’t take a drug.” 🙂 🙂

Anyway, I read this verse: “Like a city that is broken into without walls, so is a person who has no self-control over his spirit.” (Pr.25:28-NASB2020) Then I read Phil.2: 5-11 about Jesus humbling Himself to the point of death. Paul tells me to have the same mind of Christ-humble.

I was a freshman in college on the basketball team and had been going through a rough patch with another player…over a girl of all things. He had been playing dirty the past couple of practices and I’d had enough. I knew he was behind me so I went up for the rebound, cupped the ball in my left hand/elbow, cocked my right elbow and let it fly. I missed his nose by inches. The coach (rightly) sat me down to cool off. I cringe now when I think how close I came to rearranging his nose and face if I had connected.  It is like a nightmare that revisits me from time to time.

It is also a lesson I learned. Long before I knew of Proverbs 25:28. Solomon is describing me-a person with broken walls. I didn’t want that to follow me. God used that episode to bring me clarity and conviction, as well as a resolve to never lose control like that again.

“Father, help me to control my temper, my emotions, so that I exhibit Christ in all I say and do.”