{"id":6321,"date":"2025-03-19T11:39:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T15:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/?p=6321"},"modified":"2025-03-19T11:40:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T15:40:42","slug":"whos-in-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s in Control?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Throughout my life, I have struggled with wanting to be in control.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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One of the verses I regularly held on to was Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) \u2013 \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.\u201d<\/p>

However, I struggled to live as if I believed this truly.\u00a0<\/p>

The Lord Has This<\/strong><\/p>

A case in point related to selling our house to move to a new faculty job.\u00a0Amid a weak housing market, we needed to sell our house for the asking price to walk away, not owing anything. I had about eight different alternative scenarios thought through in case that didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0My wife reminded me that the Lord has this.\u00a0She was right; the house sold in eight days for the price we needed to sell it for. \u00a0<\/p>

While I may have learned this truth in my personal life, it wasn\u2019t entirely true in my academic life. Throughout my academic career, I have struggled with fearing failure and wanting to be in control. I also have always desired the approval of those around me.\u00a0I was a people pleaser.\u00a0<\/p>

People Pleasing<\/strong><\/p>

About four years ago, I took on an administrative position as department chair while still an associate professor.\u00a0I learned quickly that people were not always going to be pleased with the decisions that I make.<\/p>

As I struggled personally with loneliness and a change in my role within the university, I turned back to Jeremiah 29:11, the verse cited above. As I reflected on it and put this verse into my own words, I summarized this verse in a way that has provided me peace in leading.\u00a0\u201cYou can control the choices and decisions you make, but you can\u2019t control the choices and decisions that others make. But ultimately, I know God has a plan and I can trust Him.”<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

God Will Work Things Out<\/strong><\/p>

If I make decisions guided by truth and how others should be treated, I can rest at ease with those decisions.\u00a0In the end, God will work things out for His purposes.<\/p>

Since making this realization and realizing that my decisions are the only ones I can control, I have been given numerous opportunities to share this nugget of wisdom with students and my college-aged children.\u00a0Sadly, it took me well into my forties to discover it for myself.\u00a0Hopefully, sharing this with students helps\u00a0impart this truth in a way that can be applied in their lives much sooner.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rob Crossler<\/strong><\/h3>

Information Systems<\/h3>

Washington State University<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout my life, I have struggled with wanting to be in control. One of the verses I regularly held on to was Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) \u2013 \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45210,"featured_media":6324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2437],"tags":[3285,2491,3512,3514,3513,2937,2933,3511,2934],"class_list":["post-6321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-faith","tag-control","tag-fear","tag-jeremiah-2911","tag-people-pleaser","tag-people-pleasing","tag-plan","tag-plans","tag-rob-crossler","tag-trust"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWho's in Control? - Faculty Commons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who's in Control? - Faculty Commons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Throughout my life, I have struggled with wanting to be in control. One of the verses I regularly held on to was Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) \u2013 \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faculty Commons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-19T15:39:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-19T15:40:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/652\/2025\/03\/unnamed-89-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2904\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2178\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Bouchillon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Bouchillon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Bouchillon\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/#\/schema\/person\/ef62843c55c0fbed8493061898e69675\"},\"headline\":\"Who’s in Control?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-19T15:39:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-19T15:40:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/\"},\"wordCount\":439,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/652\/2025\/03\/unnamed-89-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"control\",\"fear\",\"Jeremiah 29:11\",\"people pleaser\",\"people pleasing\",\"plan\",\"plans\",\"rob crossler\",\"trust\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Personal Faith\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2025\/whos-in-control\/\",\"name\":\"Who's in Control? 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