Tired of Being Angry?

Last Thursday morning I went to the YMCA to work out.  The last thing the instructor told us to do was to run in a loop on the sidewalks for about a mile.  On my home stretch I was crossing the last street before getting back to the Y.  As I began to cross I saw a car turn on to the road from a distance but the person I was running with and I just kept going.  I thought, “Surely the driver will see us.”  She didn’t. 

I was almost across as she rolled through the stop sign and kept going and I was right in front of her.  I had my hand on the hood of the car as I was trying to move out of the way and now yelling, “Hey! Hey! Hey!”  I got over to the sidewalk and yelled, “What are you doing?”  This very scared and sweet older woman put down her window and began apologizing profusely.   Almost immediately I felt bad for yelling at her, I told her I forgave her, and finished the run.

Why did I get angry at the woman?  Was I justified?  Does it matter?  Why did I respond so differently when I saw who it was?  How did I get over it so quickly?  Could I have responded differently?  Should I have?

In the month of August I am preaching a sermon series on Anger.  In this series we will look to God’s word to see how the people of God should deal with and control their anger.  Use the provided invited cards to share with everyone you know because most angry people only show it in certain places and you may not see it.  Let’s share the good news of how Jesus can help us overcome our anger.

In Him,

Pastor Tim