I’ll never forget the night I saw the face of anger for the first time. I was spending the night at my friend’s house as a pre-teen in the mid 80′s.
My friend had the sweetest mom. She arose early most mornings to work in a local bakery. She took care of the kids and kept the house in order the best she could on a tight budget. She was very patient and never complained.
My friend was a great kid, a bit shy and awkward but bright and kind. He would always tell me that his dad was going to fix their boat so they could go fishing in the San Diego bay. He was going build a BMX race track in their backyard, and many other things that he never did. That night I found out why his dad never followed through on his promises, he was an alcoholic.
The Confrontation
Slam! My friend and I woke up immediately with our eyes wide open at about two in the morning. Initially we heard his dad slamming doors and hitting walls while yelling obscenities at his mom. Pretty soon my friend’s sister woke up and their whole family concentrated in the hall, except me, I remained in bed (scared stiff by the way).
But not my friend, he rose up and began to tell his drunk belligerent dad to leave his mom alone and to also leave the house.
As you can imagine this didn’t go over very well. My friend’s dad began cursing at him and belittling him at the top of his lungs. This went on for a while and eventually all the commotion calmed down, My friend’s dad left and we all went back to sleep.
I lost touch with my friend in high school and am sorry to say that I don’t know if my friend’s dad was able to overcome his bondage to alcohol. (I’ve since found out that my friends father committed suicide after his wife left him.)
I remember seeing my friend for the last time on the campus of San Diego State University. He told me that he was soon to graduate with an Engineering degree.
I was a macho young twenty-two year old so I couldn’t bring myself to tell him how proud I was of him; though I was. It even makes me smile today knowing that my friend didn’t allow the anger of his father to negatively effect the rest of his life.
In recent years I have come in contact with many young people like my friend who are the product of anger and neglect in the home. And unfortunately, unlike my friend they have allowed their parents disfunction to effect them in a cancerous way.
They wear their hatred on their sleeve and in their heart. Though unbeknownst to them, their hatred is slowly killing them, in more ways than one.
My heart bleeds for these young people because they are purposed through their warped sense of reality to repeat the offenses of their parents. I cry out to Jesus to show me how I can pierce through all those years of Satan’s lies.
How I can help them see the Love of a Savior that can free them from their parents disfunction. I preach the gospel, listen, give hugs but so far very little fruit has blossomed on the vine.
Please, if you know one of these young people go to battle on their behalf through prayer and the affection of Christ. Don’t give up on them until your prayers are answered and the affection is returned.
Or maybe, you are the one who has been injected with this hatred. And through the grace of God you are reading this article and God is speaking to you right now. He is telling you, as a loving Father, that He loves you and that His love for you is greater and more powerful than the hatred in you.
He is telling you to forgive every person who has ever hurt you. He is telling you to lay down your anger, pain and deep-seeded hatred at the foot of His Cross and receive His love.
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