Tag Archives: Anger

ANGRY MEN

12 Mar

Angry Man Tattoos

“And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.”      Isaiah 12:1 (KJV)

When my oldest son came home from prison a year ago he sported full arm and leg tattoos.  I knew that all tattoos have a story behind them, but I could not understand what all the faces, combined and linked together with tubes, meant.  I asked my son to explain it all to me; he said that they were angry men linked together by a lifeline.

I found myself studying the tattoos as we watched TV at night.  I didn’t see angry men, I saw something very different in each face.  I saw the artist’s inner turmoil, stirred by years in prison, coming out on a living canvas.

Some faces showed fear, some faces showed pain, some faces showed sorrow, some rage – all hopelessness.  One appeared to be a demon swallowing a child, its eyes stitched closed; childhood lost.

The tubes between seemed to be the tubes of nourishment that kept them all alive and also the chains of incarceration that prevented them from finding freedom and hope.  Years of addictions and bad choices added faces to the lines, banding them together as brothers through their lifeline tubes gave them some small amount of security.  They depended on each other not to sever the tubes that kept them all alive.  All manifested fear of possible disconnection in different ways.

When I look at the tattoos I see the inmates in prison, struggling to survive without losing their identity.  I see the artist’s renditions of the faces surrounding him every day.  I see the emotions he feels himself, flowing from his needle.  Hopelessness.  Aloneness.  Unwantedness.

The sad thing is, these emotions aren’t only an attribute of inmates, but are found in grocery stores, movie theaters, classrooms and in our own children.  The pressures of everyday life are overwhelming people to such proportions that they lose hope, fall to despair and give up on life.

How sad that we, the body of Christ, for fear of ridicule and rejection, keep back the very solution to their problems.  We hide the light given freely to us through our love of Christ.  We crimp off the true lifeline that would bring them peace, joy and hope.

What if we just took a chance?  What if we took a moment to offer prayer to someone in despair?  What if we wrapped our arms around the homeless and shared the gospel along with a hot meal and a warm jacket?  What if we comfort a crying child while the mother regains composure, and then offer to help by prayer and child care and taking them to church.

What if we stepped past our own insecurities and showed the love of Jesus to a hurting world, mentoring another as we do?  What if we could bring hope to just one?  The whole world could be changed – one person at a time.

——

By Linda J. Humes

Written 7-14-2013

Tags: , , , ,

HATRED

13 Sep

“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” 1 John 3:15

 

Hatred, like a canker,

eats even to the most

tender part of the soul.

✝

It rests at the edge of love,

volleying back and forth,

pretending to be one,

and then another.

✝

It separates father and son,

brother and sister,

spirit and soul,

mind and body.

✝

It lives by many names,

anger, jealousy, rage,

all dividing,

all destroying,

all pulling asunder,

that which once was one.

✝

But whether it manifests

as rightful or wrongful,

it stands firm to one truth,

the end thereof is death.

✝

Come, Sweet Jesus,

and purge this cancer,

that it will have no claim,

on this life I call Yours.

 

 

Written 9-1-2000

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

LITTLE CHILD

12 Apr

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke 4:18-19

…

Huddled mass, skin and bone,

Family gone, not a home.

Alcohol, to soothe the pain,

Curb the heat, repel the rain.

…

The future looks very bleak,

Live day by day, week by week.

Need to change, don’t know how,

Need it bad, need it now.

…

Little child, deep inside,

I am here, I am light,

Come to Me,

You’ll be free.

I am Jesus.

…

Every night, fight and steal,

Need the drugs, need to deal.

Seated deep, anger hides,

Worthlessness, fear inside.

…

Drugs help forget, take you high,

Just for today, it’s gone tonight.

Have to stop, too much strife,

I want to love, I want a life.

…

Little child, deep inside,

I am here, I am light,

Come to Me,

You’ll be free.

I am Jesus.

…

Daytime I sleep, nights work the street,

Sometimes it’s okay, sometimes I’m beat.

Don’t matter to no one, no one to care,

I can’t run away, I wouldn’t dare.

…

I still have a family, ran away from that mess,

Afraid to go back, they hate me, I guess.

I want to be wanted, want someone to care,

I need arms to hold me, someone to be there.

…

Little child, deep inside,

I am here, I am light,

Come to Me,

You’ll be free.

I am Jesus

…

Work all day, sometimes nights,

Work is tough, at home we fight.

Plagued by bills, how can we pay,

Sometimes I want to run away.

…

A wife and kids, they need to be fed,

Would they do better with me dead.

I can’t hardly cope with the pressure today,

There must be something, there must be a way.

…

Little child, deep inside,

I am here, I am light,

Come to Me,

You’ll be free.

I am Jesus.

…

Home all day, kids to tend,

House to clean, clothes to mend.

Screaming and fussing, night and day,

I want out, but there’s no way.

…

Husband’s late, if he comes home at all.

Drinking and fighting, never does call.

Don’t want today, don’t want tomorrow,

There must be some way to end this sorrow.

…

Little child, deep inside,

I am here, I am light,

Come to Me,

You’ll be free.

I am Jesus.

…

When it all seems to hard,

When there seems no way out,

When it all seems so hopeless,

Lives of anger and doubt.

…

There’s one who can help you,

He’s faithful and strong.

He’s waiting to greet you,

Whatever your wrongs.

…

He is Jesus.

Written 3/17/95

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forsaking the Call

5 Apr

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.   Matthew 18:6

…

There are times in every person’s life when difficult decisions have to be made, knowing that those decisions will affect the lives of many others. When we are called to the faith we are to prefer others above ourselves and accommodate others, knowing that God will accommodate us.

…

Most recently I have observed brothers of the faith making decisions that were intended to destroy the character of another strong Christian. False truths and innuendo have been stated and spread to cover the true reason behind the attack – financial gain and career advancement.

…

I was contemplating a way to expose the ploy and show the true colors of those involved, but I hear the voice of God very clearly . . . “vengeance is mine.”

…

It is bad enough that friendships have been destroyed and jobs have been lost for others to gain power and finance. It’s terrible that integrity has been tarnished and respect destroyed. Now, when they least expect it, God’s anger and punishment will fall. What sacrifice this? Will there be restoration? Will trust ever be regained? Will opportunities be lost forever?

…

As believers, we are called to a higher standard of integrity, a higher obligation NOT to walk in worldly ways. When taking on the mantle of Pastor, that obligation massively multiplies. People are watching. Christians are disdained in general for the faults of a few. Shame falls on the family of God.

…

Lord, let me always be aware of the people and circumstances around me that I might not make a choice what would push others farther away from You. I never want to experience your vengeance; only your grace and love.

 

 

Written 10/26/2010

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MOAB IS MY WASHPOT

24 Nov

Psalm 60 and Psalm 108

—

I have been set between two warring factions,

Each is dear to my heart.

—

I stand between the two and push each back,

Trying in the physical to do that,

Which only the spiritual can change.

—

The anger and violence that explodes is frightening,

It cannot continue – it must not.

—

One faction leaves in rage,

Tainting the lives of those left behind.

—

I grieve.

I grieve in travail that seemingly,

Cannot be quenched.

—

I pray and clean my house,

I pray and stand in faith,

I pray and wait for my miracle,

It is taking so long.

—

“Moab is my washpot,” says God,

my thorn, of incestuous birth,

and my cleansing bowl.

—

Moab is my washpot,

A chosen outsider that I love,

With all of my heart.

—

I long to draw him close,

Yet he has pushed me far away.

—

I kneel before God,

Cleansing my past,

Cleansing my generations,

Cleansing the ground on which I stand,

Cleansing the future for my family to come.

—

As I prepare a new path,

A new home, a new way,

The heaviness of anger and grief lift.

—

When my loved one returns,

Peace will overcome turmoil,

Love will overcome rage.

—

There will be much pain to be healed,

There will be times of testing,

Times of patience,

Times of re-washing and cleansing,

Times of reconciliation.

—

I bless God for the times that Moab rose up,

For we had a mere existence,

An acceptance of the way things were,

Things that were not right.

—

Without Moab, things might never have changed,

Now God can work His will,

In drawing us together,

The way we should have always been,

But couldn’t find the way.

—

Thank you God, for the trial of Moab.

 

 

—

Written 2-8-2001

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

CRIMSON BLOOD

8 Sep

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.       Hebrews 13:20-21

 

So curious a creature are we,

 ingenious in the ways of war,

 yet perplexed by wounds,

 ever so greater,

 than any weapon,

 could ever conceive.



Wounds so deep,

 into the hearts,

 of our smallest children,

 that no medicine made,

 today or tomorrow,

 could ever lift the pain,

 piercing through.



Fatal wounds inflicted,

 by those they love most,

 in acts of anger,

 in acts of arrogance,

 in tearing away,

 from the gift they call love.



When the hope dies,

 along with worthiness,

 the wounded child,

 remains small,

 though the body may grow,

 to adulthood,

 to accountability.



Where, then, do they turn,

 when they scream out for love,

 from a deadened heart,

 pushed so deeply,

 into a box,

 of protective devices,

 flushed by deadening tasks?



Who, then, can see,

 into the callused eyes,

 shielding the soul,

 from any possibility,

 of additional wounds.



Only the Son of Light,

 can burn so bright,

 as to see into the depths,

 of a lightless life.



Only the Son of Life,

 can loosen the sword,

 of tainted love,

 and killing words,

 to free the fatal wound,

 in the deadened heart,

 of a little child,

 now the shape of a man.



It is only the Son,

 who called us from birth,

 set angels at our side,

 and prayed with our prayers,

 until the day,

 we were ready to heal.



It is only the Son,

 who’s dark crimson blood,

 entered into the wound,

 lubricating the weapon,

 only He could remove,

 cauterizing the opened cavity,

 filling it with the endless gift,

 of God’s perfect love.

 

 

Written 11-15-1998

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Effects of Our Consequences

30 Jan

Dominoes

“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” 1 Corinthians 12:26-27 (KJV)

Behavior – Consequence – Effect

We make choices every day; good choices, bad choices, inconsequential choices – just choices, or so we think.  “I’ll do what I want, it’s my life.”  I’ll do what I want, it’s my body.” It is your life, it is your body, but it is not a separate and disconnected entity.

Drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, thrill seeking, the momentary pleasures that grasp a life and start a domino chain of destruction that spider webs into the lives of countless people you never even consider.  Then there’s suicide, the final decision a person makes that they feel will end the pain in their life, and in that moment of final silence, it devastates tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people.

Choices.  Addictions.  What happens to the person caught in the addiction trap?  At first it may be fun, pleasurable, then consuming, overwhelming, controlling, and then . . . . . our choices lead to consequences.

People begin to avoid you, your work product begins to fail, if you ever get up and go into work.  Your family, as much as they love you, begins to avoid you.  Spouses leave, keeping you from being with your children.  Your friends, who have always been there for you, refuse to talk to you.  Those who completely trusted you are no longer there.  The respect you had earned disappeared.  Still you spiral down and down and it’s everyone else’s fault, so you say.

If you are fortunate enough to be stopped by law enforcement and given the chance to get clean of those addiction, given another chance at life, given another chance of proving you can be that original amazing person, it will take years.  Years incarcerated, years working twice as hard as others to earn back the trust, the respect, the joy of reuniting with friends and family.

As you fight to regain back what you once had, do you see the effects of your consequences on others?  Do you recognize the emotional battle your family and friends fought as they watched you fail, struggle, grow, fail, struggle, grow?  Do you see their tears and the guilt they feel, wondering if there was something that they could have done to have kept it all from happening?  Do you see the money and time and emotion spent every month to be sure that you have a way to stay in touch and have a few treats.  Do you recognize the nights they spend in prayer and tears, hoping and believing that when this part of your journey has completed that you will find your restoration and not be tempted to give up the struggle to fight back to wholeness and fall back into the temptation of an old lifestyle.

I suspect that you may recognize the consequences of your behaviors, but have you taken the time to understand the wide spread effects of your consequences on so very many others?  Family.  Friends. The kid next door.  Co-workers.  Police Officers.  EMTS.  Nurses.  Prison Guards.  The person who found you near death, or worse, dead.  The person you hurt in a violent rage.  The person you killed in a car accident you don’t even remember having.  The person you stole a precious family heirloom from, to sell for that next “fix.”  The person you pulled into you addiction whose life is following your same path now.

Please hear my heart, in love.  Lord please let my words change the path of someone, many someones, who do not recognize what the consequences of their actions could be, and what the effects of those circumstances will be.  Turn them back.

Behavior  –  Consequence  –  Effect

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

STREET FIGHT

13 Nov

Angry Teen

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.    John 3:16 KJV

—-  

I’m strong – I have power,

You’re weak – you’re nothing.

I could hit you – I could stab you,

You’re weak – you’re nothing.

 —-

These streets are mine – I need nothing,

I don’t need food – I don’t need a room.

I can do anything – I can do everything,

You’re weak – you’re nothing.

 —-

I could kill you – I could take your money,

I could destroy everything you have.

I am strong – nothing can touch me,

You’re weak – you’re nothing.

—-

What’s wrong with you, man?

Don’t you see me, don’t you hear me?

You are at my mercy –

You are a bug in the palm of my hand,

You’re weak – you’re nothing.

—-

Don’t you hear me – can’t you see what I am.

I am strong – I am tough – nothing can hurt me.

I need nothing – I need no one –

The streets are mine,

You’re weak – you’re nothing.

 —-

You’re different, man – you’re different.

You don’t fear me – but you’re not tough.

You sort of glow, man – are you high,

What are you on, man?

 —-

You’re different, man – you’re different.

I’m tough – I’m mean – but – you’re different.

What’s in you, man – I don’t get it.

I’m mean – but you’re looking at me like –

Like – we’re old friends, or something.

But – I don’t have friends –

There are no friends on the street,

NO – you’re weak – you’re nothing.

 —-

I don’t need you – I don’t need nobody,

The streets are mine – I live through fear,

No one messes with me.

But, you’re different, man – Who are you?

 —-

Don’t touch me, man,

No one touches me – Nothing touches me.

I’m mean – the streets are mine,

I’m  –  –  strong  –  –  I’m  –  –

Who are you?

What are you?

—-

Sit down, man – over here,

Where no one can see.

Tell me again why you aren’t afraid.

 —-

There’s no way You could have been like Me,

No way, man – You’re weak – you’re –  –  different  –  –  you’re  –  –

—-

I don’t want to change,

I don’t need food – I don’t need nobody,

People are bad news, man –

People are no good,

Out here I’m king, man,

These are my streets – I’m mean . . .

—-

Don’t hold me, man -don’t touch me – don’t . . . .

Why did you do that –

Why do you care about me.

There’s nothing in your world for me,

There’s no hope – I’m not like you –

You’re not like me,

I can’t be like you.

—-

Who are you, man – look at me cry,

I don’t cry – I’m mean – I’m tough – I’m . . .

Who are you?

 —-

Ok, man – Ok.

Tell me again,

Tell me again about this Jesus guy.

—-

Tags: , , , , ,