Keep a lid on it! A.I.M.'s 13th shot.

This is Mt. St. Helens.  Pretty, right?  It's no Mt. Rainier, but it'll do.  Of course, this pic was taken in the 1960's, when the St. was silent & serene.  31 years ago today, however, (May 18, 1980), the St. got heated, and let loose.  I was living in Seattle at the time, and it was big news.  Hats, t-shirts, mugs - everything had a picture of the erupting volcano on it. 

Where I lived, everything had ash on on it.  Soon afterwards, containers of all sorts and sizes filled with ash would be sold in local stores.  An active volcano is a big deal.  And, let's face it, as long as nobody gets hurt, it's kind of cool too (except when street football games are postponed due to ash curfews - that's no fun).

An exploding leader, on the other hand - not so cool, (and people usually do get hurt).  Any of us who have been under or even near this kind of eruption know that it is anything but fun.  Nothing you'd want to take a picture of.  The fallout is not something you'd want to bottle-up and sell.  You just run for cover. 

There's a singer-songwriter I've listened to since about the time St. Helens blew.  His name is Mark Heard.  He achieved Sainthood himself in 1992.  That is to say he's walking with the Saints.  One of his songs "It's Not Your Fault" includes this lyric;

I get angry sometimes

It's not your fault

I let the molehill simmer like Vesuvius

And hold up in Pompeii until all hell breaks loose



Vesuvius - destroyed Pompeii in AD 79

As a Christian leader, you and I are called to serve OTHERS in love.  Loosing our cool, getting hot-headed, blowing our top, allowing our anger to erupt and overflow, leaving devastation & destruction in its path has nothing to with Christian leadership. 

Angry people stir up a lot of discord;
   the intemperate stir up trouble.

Proverbs 29:22 (The Message)



Maybe on this anniversary of one Saint loosing her cool, the rest of us Saints should commit to keeping ours?  I'm in.  My Mom used to count to 10 before speaking if she was upset.  That can't hurt.  There are plenty of ways we can avoid letting the "molehill simmer like Vesuvius".   Take a walk.  Phone a friend.  Listen to music (something soothing).  Say a prayer.  Anything beats pouring out our wrath on poor old Pompeii.  I don't ever want my leadership style (or yours) or my actions (or yours) to get in the way of street football, or any of the other important things in life.