Losing One's Cool!

Steven N. Cowan, 66 of Vermont, Wisconsin was in the news this week for all-the-wrong reasons. On Monday evening Cowan was watching the hit show, "Dancing with the Stars." He became quite agitated at the fact that Bristol Palin (daughter of former Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin) was still on the show despite the fact that Cowan thought she was a lousy dancer (he blamed it all on what he saw as "politics"). How upset was he? He grabbed his shotgun, slid in a shell and proceeded to blow out his television. And when he reloaded and took aim at his wife, she fled, drove to a nearby town and called 911. When police arrived at Cowan's house, he barricaded himself in and refused to come out. The standoff finally ended without incident early Tuesday morning when Cowan surrendered to sheriff's deputies.

Obviously this man had some issues. In fact, according to documents filled in the county circuit court, Cowan was stressed from financial matters and under care for a mental health condition. So given his state of mind, a small irritant took on a far greater significance than it normally would have done - to the point that Cowan snapped and went for his gun.

What happened to Cowan can, quite frankly, happen to us. Probably not to that extreme - but yes, we can "lose it," "blow up," "rant and rave." And when we do lose our cool, we leave a lot of collateral damage behind (see Proverbs 14:17; Proverbs 14:29; Proverbs 29:22). So all this to say, if you have an anger problem, do something about it. Seek some help. Refusing to do so will only lead to pain ... both for yourself and those around you.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj