How do I write GUI based applications (desktop apps) without using the event-driven-paradigm?

I'm currently developing a small application in Java, which makes use of the Swing API. As such, the application is heavily 'event driven'. The problem with this is that the flow of control becomes obscured. So I was wondering if there is an alternative approach. Do all programming languages use this event-driven-paradigm in GUI development? I've used other languages, such as Modula-2, but found no built in support for GUI development (like Swing). So how are/were GUI's developed using languages like modula-2, Pascal etc? Any help will be greatly appreciated.