We all have impulses.  And many of those impulses are not necessarily healthy.

Impulses to speak when silence is the better option.

Impulses to spend when saving is the wiser choice.

Impulses to sex when either abstinence or faithfulness is the path of life.

Impulses to selfishness when submission is the way of Jesus.

Impulses to seclusion when community is our deepest need.

So since we all have impulses, many of which are unhealthy, what do we do with them?

It all depends on where you place the word "to" in the next sentence:

Surrender to your impluses.

or

Surrender your impulses to . . . Jesus.

There are many voices in the church today advocating that the church encourage people to surrender to their impulses.  These voice are particulary determined when it comes to the realm of human sexuality.

But I believe that's a path and those are voices that ultimately lead to dissolution and disarray.

I know that would be the case were I to surrender to my impulses.

So by God's grace I'm doing my best to move the "to" to the end of the sentence, and therefore surrender my unhealthy impulses to the Lordship of Jesus.

Wherever you are in your journey, how about we move the 'to' and do that surrender together?

While at last week's Annual Conference, I also attended the luncheon for graduates of Asbury Seminary who serve in Western North Carolina.

The seminary was begun in 1923 with a handful of pastors-in-training gathering in the remote Kentucky hamlet of Wilmore. 

Today, the school has close to 1800 students on two different campuses (the second one in Orlando), and the city of Lexington has expanded to the point that Wilmore is no longer quite so remote.

Given that its 100 year anniversary will arrive in just over a decade, the school has prepared and embraced a bold plan for 2023.  The plan's promo video is the kind of piece that fills alums with pride not only for the school's expansive vision but also for its ability to mix art, technology, and inspiration.  You might not get teary-eyed watching it, but I did. 

Here it is:



You can read an abbreviated version of the plan here.

We've all had those moments when a song we long thought said one thing actually sings something quite different.

I had a friend one time who insisted against all evidence to the contrary that the Rolling Stone's ballad "Angie" was in fact called "I Inject."

Or the other friend who thought that "Dreamweaver" was "Train From Way Back." 

You might think I need some new friends.

Except I've done it, too. 

So here are my top five bloopers when it comes to getting rock lyrics -- and even bands -- all wrong.

5.  "Yellow" in concert.  As a freshman in high school, I was just beginning to listen to the radio and keep track of what was going on in the music world.  One day, a friend told me that he was going to the "Yellow" concert that night.  I played along like I knew what he was talking about.  The day after, I even asked him how "Yellow" had performed, still acting the part of a rock aficianado who knew all about this banana-colored band.  Only when he told me some of the songs that "Yellow" sang the night before did I realize he was saying "ELO" -- the Electic Light Orchestra.  Here's "Yellow's" top tune:



4.  Livin' Lovin' Maid by Led Zeppelin.  I've been listening to this song since Led Zeppelin II was the third cassette tape I ever bought back in 1977.  All along I thought it said, "and the butler and the maid and their servants three."  Wrong.  It's "the butler and the maid and their servantry."



3.  Kodachrome by Paul Simon.  Released when I was 11, this was my "first" all-time favorite song.  The problem was that I had the name all wrong:  I called it Portachrome until my friend Johnny Scanlon corrected, rebuked, and ridiculed me for missing it so badly.  Since I didn't even know what a kodachrome was, how would I know that a porachrome didn't even exist?



2.  Hotel California by the Eagles.  There is a good chance that I've listened to this song more than any other in my lifetime.  But the opening paragraph confused me for the longest time:  I thought it said "once fell a dolitas rising up through the air."  I didn't know what a "dolitas" was nor how they "fell."  Then I found out that Don Henley was actually singing "warm smell of colitas rising up through the air."



1.  You're So Vain by Carly Simon.  This ode to Mick Jagger is full of misheard lyrics.  "Grounds" in my coffee instead of "clouds" in my coffee comes to mind.  Yet my mis-hearing cut right to the heart of the song.  I was convinced Carly was singing "You're so vague."  Jagger's backing vocals make the song especially brilliant, vague or not.