You Wouldn’t Like me When I’m Angry
I taught my Sunday School class last Sunday and the topic was on anger. Basically we talked about anger and how to deal with it by looking at Proverbs and discussing anger in our lives. We have a great Sunday School class because we tend to be really honest with one another. If someone makes a mistake in their life, they own up to it and move on. Contrast that to other classes I’ve been in where everyone is fine all the time. Anyway, the discussion on anger was very interesting. Many of the men said they used to have a bad temper, but they’ve controlled it now. Clearly we can’t control when we get angry, but we can definitely control the results of that anger. Read more »
Posted: November 18th, 2008 under Stress.
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According to the stores, Christmas is coming. I say that because all the holiday decorations are up and Christmas music is already playing on the Muzak system. Granted, Halloween just happened and Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but that is the retail sector for you. The start of the Christmas season used to mean the start of the busy season for me. I had so much to do and little time to do it. I figure there are three weekends in December before Christmas. All the Christmas parties I was invited to had to happen then. I had to find time to buy presents for everyone. I had to find time for the Christmas cards. I had to … well you get the picture. 
When Hope was a baby, I’d feed her every Sunday morning. It typically happened around 6:00 in the morning and I’d go downstairs, get her bottle ready and then pick her up from her crib. I’d sit down in the living room and give her a bottle, trying to be as quiet as possible so Amy could get some more sleep. I’d turn on the TV and looked for something that I could have on but not pay much attention to. Well on SpeedTV they had live Formula 1 races and since they were usually in Europe, they started just at the same time as I started feeding Hope. So I’d put them on and watch the cars go by. By the time Hope stopped taking a bottle, I was hooked on the sport. 
I have some friends who are policemen, some who are SWAT team members, and some who are in the military. Suffice it to say that they are all highly trained. One is an expert marksman, one an expert tracker, one has twenty years on the beat, and another is a decorated officer. It is always interesting to get together with them and hear the stories they tell. The lack of intelligence in the common criminal is astounding, but I guess they wouldn’t be criminals if they were intelligent. It is also interesting to listen to them talk about tactics for different situations. I remember one discussion in particular was what the military trains their troops to do in case of an ambush. Now I never expect to find myself in that situation, but the concepts they teach are easily applicable to dealing with life’s daily problems. 
Growing up I loved to play baseball more than any other sport. I’d play catch with my dad in the backyard, break out the old wiffle ball and bat with friends, and when I’d go to my grandmother’s house, there was always a baseball game across the street. When I became old enough, I started playing on the town’s youth league. I remember it being a weird mixture of fun and unholy stress. I was pretty insecure at the time and there was always at least one bully on my team that I had to deal with. I was also afraid of getting hit by the ball. The main issue was that although I’m right-handed, I bat left-handed. Given the minority of lefty hitters, the pitchers just did not have much practice there so I had to dodge my share of balls. Still I did enjoy playing the game.