Key Bible Verse: Let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don't think of ways to indulge your evil desires (Romans 13:14). Bonus Reading: Romans 7:14–8:2

After he'd stopped gambling for several months, John Eades says a craving came on him that "stayed with me from morning to night, powerful and relentless."

When pressures at home built up, he hatched a devious plan to break away and scratch his sinister itch. Over several months, any extra money he came upon he squirreled away under the carpet in his car, accumulating nearly $600. He was intent on fleeing the mountains of central Tennessee for the casinos of the Delta country, in Tunica, Mississippi, six hours away. Eades then conjured up an excuse to get out of the house for a couple of days, convincing his wife he needed "to get away for a while. That was just gambling thinking. I had been building up to gamble for a long time." Only a serendipitous but nearly tragic event kept him from making the trip, an event he calls "the miracle on Boswell Road."

After avoiding the near binge, Eades now advises never even driving past a casino. "Out of sight is not out of mind, but it surely helps to not have to look at reminders and be tempted. What are a few extra blocks out of your way?"

—Tom Raabe in House of Cards

My Response: Some people and places I may need to avoid are . …

Thought to Apply: If you've been bit once by a rattlesnake, don't pick it up again
—John Landrum (chaplain to Mississippi Beach)