February 4, 2007


Volume XXVI - Number 5  

Handling Our Anger
Richard Mansel

Imagine that you have spent all day cleaning your house for an important dinner party and you have everything spotless just minutes before your guests are to arrive. Then you hear in the kitchen the sound of tiny feet and see that your three-year-old has tracked mud all over the kitchen tile. You explode. What happens next is anger. It can become, as someone has written, a wild dog that can be tamed for a while but then we can unleash it and no one is immune to its fury.

Few things can tear apart the fabric of a family like anger. It has led many to divorce court, permanent alienation and even incarceration. How many relatives have not spoken to one another for years because of anger? The pain is pervasive throughout our society. We must deal with anger or its ravages will consume us.

There are four ways that we can deal with anger.

First, we can repress it. Denial, however, is a dangerous practice because we do not always know when the kettle will blow. A basketball held under water will suddenly pop to the surface and splash water on everyone around. Repressed anger can have similar results.

Second, we can ignore our anger and pretend it does not exist. Unresolved anger, however, just sits in our hearts and eats away at us and often gives us a cruel, bitter nature.

Third, we can unleash it on whoever happens to be there at the time. Graveyards are filled " with the victims of this approach.

Finally, we can learn the message of Scripture on how to resolve anger. "A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards" (Proverbs 29:11).

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath ... Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:26,31,32).

This is the way to deal with anger. Is not life too short to lose a loved one because of anger? We must control anger or it will control us.❦




AM SERMON:
"What Is Your Master?"
(Romans 6:16)
PM SERMON:
"The High Cost of Bad Decisions"
(Genesis 13:1-13)

Our hearts go out in deepest sympathy to Robin and Howard Johnson and family in the passing of Robin’s mother, Dorothy Givens, this past Wednesday, January 31, after an extended illness. Keep the Johnson family in your prayers.

Youth Fellowship
The monthly Youth Fellowship is scheduled for this evening (Sun.) after the PM services. See Matt Faneuf for details.

Ladies’ Meeting Tonight
Shirley Bauer has asked that all the ladies meet after the PM services this evening in Assembly Room “B” to discuss the upcoming “Ladies’ Day” here at Orange Street. Your cooperation will be appreciated.

Baby Shower
There is a Baby Shower planned for Brandy Howell this coming Tuesday evening (6th) at 7 o’clock in the annex. All of the ladies of the congregation are invited to attend.

Cupid’s Café
MEN - sign-up on the bulletin board in the foyer for what you can bring to the table, next Sunday evening (11th), for our annual Cupid’s Café Fellowship. This year’s menu is “Chili”. See Jim Hall if you have questions.

The Pantry
The pantry item for this week will be canned meats. Please help us keep the pantry stocked for those occasions when there is a need.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
We need “hosts” to sign-up for the “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” program. The sign-up list is in the foyer or you can see Shirley Bauer if you need more information. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know members of the congregation who may not be in your immediate circle.

Ghana Bound
Ted Wheeler has been cleared by his doctors following his cancer and he and Daniel Stearsman will be traveling to Ghana on Feb. 16th. They will be heading back to the North to strengthen the brethren and start some new churches. Since 2003, seven congregations and nearly 1000 souls have been added to the kingdom. You have had a great part in that work. If you are interested in more information, please see or e-mail Daniel. Please keep them in your prayers, especially that the temperatures don't hit 107 degrees or greater!

No action is made righteous by the number that do it. Sin is sin, error is error, and wrong is wrong, regardless of how many engage in it. All the people of the world were engaged in sinful living prior to the flood except Noah and his family. But that didn't make wickedness the proper course of life. (Genesis 6:1-12)

 

Pansy Sims, Darin West,
Wanda Greene,
Mona Howard, Minnie Lee Stout,
Zach Mathis, Woodrow Hall,
Brice Oliver, Frances Black,
Lindsay Jo Holt, Mike Wells,
Emily Rowe, Mirell Johnson,
Juanita Hilborn, Frances Kidwell,
Gina Dupree,
Johnny & Jewell White

-- Shut Ins --
Cliff Powell, Robert Cox,
Mattie Hughs

– In The Nursing Homes –
Elsie Chambers (Auburndale Oaks #242)
Robert Pearson (Tandem)