Temptation is common, yet so personal, private, and intimate. We’re different in exactly the same way, so alike in our diversity. Temptations are like fingerprints—unique — yet we all have fingerprints. What tempts us, and to what degree is as numerous as grains of sand on the beach.

Free-will — what a paradox. The more I try to control my environment, the more under control I become to my own desires — the less control I have. Even right goals with wrong techniques are disastrous.

Fly-fishing requires forgetting everything you know about bait-casting — it’s completely different. Bait-casting requires increasing weight on the end of the line and forcefully launching it in conjunction with the action of the rod. In fly-casting, force is counterproductive; it’s easier to fly-cast as you decrease weight on the end of the line. Rod action is important, but in a different way. You cast line, not weight. The proper technique builds energy into the line and focuses it to a designated point. Distance is irrelevant. Accuracy and presentation are everything.

We want the same things out of life: peace of mind, happiness, fulfillment, contentment, etc., but use the wrong technique(s). The Bible says there’s a way that seems right, but leads to the opposite of what we want. The insanity is that we keep using the same wrong technique(s) hoping for different results. Any joy and pleasure is a counterfeit version of what we want — and it almost always leaves us hungrier. It’s not how hard you cast, but how you cast that gets results. Life isn’t about control, but self-control.

(Editor’s note: Hubbs is the Fort Leonard Wood Mobilization chaplain.)