Month: September 2024

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Matthew 5:22

Years ago, our family used a percolator to make the morning coffee. This “coffee maker” was light years behind the pods and other varieties of today. The percolator worked by using gravity and a process called percolation to brew coffee. You would place the coffee grounds in a metal basket at the top, add water to the bottom of the pot, and place it on the stove on high. The water at the bottom heats up and boils which creates steam bubbles. The steam bubbles in turn push the hot water up the tube in the middle of the pot, over the coffee grounds, and back into the bottom part of the pot. When the process is finished, we would put the stove on simmer and enjoy fresh coffee.

Just like the steam rises in the percolator in order to make coffee, sometimes in this day and time, we have many things that cause the steam or anger in ourselves to rise. Anger is defined as a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. During this day and time, many of us experience anger on a daily basis. Anything from folks texting while driving, to political ads and speeches, to unrest in our world, to simple everyday occurrences that can send us over the edge.

It is a proven fact that people who struggle with anger are five times more likely to suffer with coronary heart disease and/or suffer a heart attack because they can get so angry. This kind of anger is usually associated with folks who are quick tempered, react swiftly, and many times stupidly, instead of letting things defuse slowly and sensibly.

The first mention of anger in the Bible is when Cain got so angry with his brother, Abel, that he murdered him. God says in Epheisians Don’t sin by letting your anger control you.” The word anger is only one letter away from the word danger. The truth is that once we let anger get the best of us, it reveals the worst in us.

The first thing about anger is that it is stupid. Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard’s Almanac: “Take this advice from Richard poor and lame; Whatever’s begun in anger ends in shame.”

Next, anger is devisive. Occasionally we become angry for a good reason, but most of the time it’s because we are irritated, impatient, or hurt about the way we’ve been treated. Will Rogers once said, “People who fly into a rage seldom make a good landing.”

Finally, anger is destructive. We usually pay the penalty for the actions we commit in the midst of anger. Things such as losing friends, losing the love and respect of our family, losing business associates, and losing our health. The psychologist John Hunter who suffered from a severe heart conditon once said, “My life is at the mercy of the person who can make me angry…the first scoundrel who gets me angry can kill me!”

Proverbs tells us that he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty. One of the fruits of the spirt is self control, and that means that as a Christian, one can control the anger. Anger is much like a river in that if it’s controlled, it can generate enough electricity to power a city, but if it is uncontrolled, it can overflow its banks, become a raging flood, and destroy everything in its path.

Not everything in life is worth a burst of anger. Just like the percolator when it is on high, our tempers can heat up and boil over, but if we turn down the heat and simmer down, we can enjoy life. Remember to count to ten before speaking when we are angry. Then, if we are really angry, don’t say anything!

As we face this new season of differences of opinion, choices, and values, remember don’t let it percolate into some words or actions that will cause regret!

Generous in love – God gives grace. Huge in mercy, erase my bad record. Psalms 51:1 from The Message

When our kids were growing up, one of their favorite toys was the red framed Etch A Sketch. This amazing toy uses two knobs that you turn, and you can draw vertical lines with one and horizontal lines with the other. If you turn both knobs simultaneously, diagonal lines can be drawn. After the picture has been drawn, if you don’t like it or want to make some changes, you just turn the red box upside down, shake it, and viola! The picture is erased.

It’s hard to believe that the classic red framed drawing toy, Etch A Sketch, has been around for over 64 years! We would probably all have to admit that it’s pretty impressive these days that a toy that doesn’t have Bluetooth capabilites, can’t connect to WiFi, and doesn’t even work on batteries continues to be iconic and have relevance today especially when children are increasingly putting down toys and picking up video game controllers.

This amazing toy offers the user a chance to erase all their mistakes or miscues and start over! It reminds me of the way God handles mistakes in our lives, in our nation, and in our world. He wipes the slate clean and “remembers it no more.” He cancels our past, and He chooses to forget our wrongs, errors, and failures.

This week we remember the twenty third anniversary of September 11. Our lives were forever changed on that fateful day, and for many of us, things will never be the same. We will forever ask questions such as: “As a country how do we come to terms with our suffering, not only as individuals, but also, as a nation and erase it?” “How do we erase the violation we feel by this tragedy?” “Is it possible to forgive those who seem to have no repentance?” Can we ever erase the pain and suffering of this event?

The tragedy of 911 is neither the first time or the last time we, as a people, will ask these and other questions. This past Wednesday, we watched in horror as a 14 year old gunman killed 4 students and injured 9 more in a senseless act of violence in Apalachee High School in Winder. The students who witnessed it referred to it as “an act of pure evil“. As we watched students gather on the football field for safety and to pray for their fellow students, teachers, and staff, we all felt that moment of helplessness and horror again.

It is human nature to question tragedies whether they come to us either as a natural disaster or through the cunning and evil of human beings. When acts of human beings are the cause, most people point to the fact that God gives us our freedom even to sin and do wrong. We can’t erase these events, but instead of moving backward into grief and despair, God would want us to move forward in a better way.

Recently a friend from Donalsonville sent me excerpts from an interview with one of my relatives, Miss Martha Nell Spooner. The history that she tells of our small town brought back so many good memories and taught me some history of which I was not aware. It also imparted some wisdom which I think is apropo for us today.

Miss Martha Nell is turning ninety, and she left the interviewer with these words: “I am ready to step out of this world, but I am sorry for leaving it in the shape it’s in for my great grandchildren. The things that are so trying take us to the absolute end of our rope, but if we could, we should just hesitate and accept that this is a test. These trials, these things that test us and try us, we can either give up on and become bitter, resentful and angry, or we can hang onto the statement that everything does work for the good. We can’t see it, but we have to accept it.”

It is up to us to try to erase the evil that leads people to do such unimaginable acts of violence. I heard more than one person say, “There if not for the grace of God, go I.” The scipture from Corinthians is a statement of gratitude and humility that acknowledges human sinfulness and the need of God’s grace. In the words of Sheriff Jud Smith of Barrow County, “Hate will not be allowed to prevail.” As Christians, we may be in this world, but we are not of this world. Love will prevail.

Our prayers are with all the families of those students and teachers who lost their lives and were injured. God bless them!

After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I have decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. Ecclesiastes 5:18 from The Message

This Monday we celebrate Labor Day which means to many of us a holiday to mark the end of summer. It is seen as the weekend where everybody who can go somewhere goes somewhere so they can play for one last weekend because the real hard work of the last part of the year begins on Tuesday! However, Labor Day is actually celebrated on the first Monday of September every year to celebrate workers.

The origins of Labor Day reflect how far worker’s rights have come in this country since its inception in the late 19th century. At this point in our history, the average American worker worked twelve hour days seven days a week. This abuse of the average worker gave rise to the Industrial Revolution where Unions began to crop up to fight for the rights of those who put in a lot of hard work!

In every day of life, we have the choice of going one of two ways: we can go the easy way or the hard way. The easy way says, it doesn’t matter if I work today or not, it doesn’t matter what time I show up, it doesn’t matter if I check out a few minutes early. It says things like, “Take a short cut, cheat if you have to, pull some strings, cut some corners, don’t work too hard.” We ask things like, “How much vacation time do I have? What are my benefits? How many days and hours do I have to work?” This seems to be the American way of today.

The hard way is the way of getting up early and staying late. It is the way of working with your hands. It is long range planning, goal setting, diligence, forethought, preparation, and doing what needs to be done even if you are not told to do it. This way is the way God speaks to when we look at the scripture above.

God is all about the hard way. He isn’t fond of couch potatoes. The hard way looks difficult and daunting. All of us would rather be on the easy way, but God is calling us all to the hard road.

One day a grandfather told his grandchildren the story of how he came to America. He told about the trains and ship that brought him from his home in Eastern Europe. He told of being processed along with other immigrants at Ellis Island, and how he’d gone to a cafeteria in Lower Manhattan to get something to eat.

He said he sat down at an empty table and waited a long time for someone to come and take his order, but nobody came. Finally, a woman with a tray full of food sat down opposite him and explained how a cafeteria works. “You start at the end, “she said, pointing to a stack of trays. “Then, you go along the food line and pick out what you want. At the other end they’ll tell you how much you have to pay.”

The grandfather reflected for moment and said, “I soon learned that’s how everything works in this country. It’s like a cafeteria here. You can get anything you want-even very great success-if youre willing to pay the price. But, you will never get what you want if you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself.”

The difference in where we are right now and where we want to be in our job, our family life, and our Christian walk can be summed up in two words–hard work. Does God want us to succeed? Yes, but he won’t drop success in our lap. He promised to “Bless all the work of our hands.” Countless hours, persistent effort, and constant improvement make the difference between ambition and success.

Margaret Mead once said, “I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” Thank you to all the workers who put in hard work every day and do it the hard way.