The Control Sector
By JP
Today we’re looking at the control sector — the part of our lives where hope, choice, freedom, and responsibility live. It’s also where despair, hopelessness, blame, feeling trapped, and feeling stuck show up.
Control is deeply connected to hope.
I’m a big tennis fan. Rafael Nadal is my favourite player. In one Australian Open final, he was down two sets. In the third set, he was down 3–2 and facing three break points. In a Grand Slam final, you need three sets to win. From a human perspective, it looked over. I lost hope and switched off the TV.
Hours later, I turned it back on.
Nadal was in the fifth set.
Something had shifted. Not necessarily the score first — but the belief. The refusal to give in. The decision to keep fighting for the next point.
Hope returned.
The Control Sector: Where Hope Lives
When we think about control, we often imagine either domination or helplessness.
On one side:
“I have no choice.”
“There’s nothing I can do.”
“They made me feel this way.”
“I’m stuck.”
On the other side:
“I can choose my response.”
“I am responsible for my next step.”
“I have agency.”
“There is still hope.”
The control sector is not about controlling everything. It’s about discerning what is actually within our responsibility — and what is not.
We cannot control:
Other people’s choices
Outcomes
Timing
Circumstances
But we can control:
Our response
Our attitude
Our boundaries
Our obedience
Our next faithful step
Despair often creeps in when we try to control what was never ours to carry — or when we abandon responsibility for what actually is.
Despair happens when we believe:
There is no choice.
There is no way forward.
There is no responsibility left.
There is no hope.
Yet the gospel tells a different story. Even in suffering, we are never without choice. We may not choose our circumstances, but we choose how we respond within them.
Being “not in despair” doesn’t mean we are not overwhelmed. It means we refuse to surrender our responsibility to hope.
The Duck on the Water
Sometimes we look at others and assume they have everything under control. Like a duck gliding across a lake — calm, composed, effortless.
But underneath the surface, the feet are paddling furiously.
Many people are carrying pressure you cannot see. They are choosing, moment by moment, not to give up. Control is not about appearing calm; it is about continuing to move, even when no one sees the effort.
Hope and Responsibility
Hope is not passive optimism.
Hope is an active stance:
I will take the next point.
I will take the next breath.
I will take the next obedient step.
In that tennis final, Nadal could not control the score already lost. He could not replay the previous sets. But he could play the next point.
The control sector always brings us back to this question: What is my next faithful point?
You may feel hard pressed. Perplexed. Even close to crushed.
But you are not without choice.
You are not without responsibility.
And therefore, you are not without hope.
Reflection Questions
In a situation where you feel stuck right now, what is truly outside your control — and what is still within your responsibility?
What would it look like to choose one small “next point” this week instead of surrendering to despair?