Typhoon in the Home

When I was in high school I worked part-time at a local grocery store as a sack boy to earn some extra money and I saved that money and I wondered what the best means would be to use it and I noticed that on my way to work there was a busy corner with a three-way stop and a bus bench was there and the words rent me and a phone number were on that bus bench and I also noticed that some drivers would get awful mad at one another at that intersection and honk their horns or make obscene gestures and I thought maybe I could do something about it in my own small way. I telephoned the number on that bus bench and it was a local advertising company that for a monthly fee they would advertise your business by painting that bus bench with your company's slogan or logo your name and service. The monthly cost to advertise on that bus bench was $30 a month.

Well that may not sound like much today friends but $30 a month back in 1972 was a lot of money to a teenage boy with a part-time job but I prayed about it and I decided it was the right thing to do with my hard-earned money that I made at the grocery store so I signed a one-year contract and paid three months in advance because I was just a kid and they asked for that much in advance from a kid with no credit. I guess they agreed to take me on and take my business because my request was so unique and in the south this was the bible belt after all. Every day I watch that painter work on my ad on that bus bench until he finished it and he must have had a little bit of artist in him because he embellished my words with a sky blue background of a sky with white puffy serene clouds all around it.

It took him three days to finish that bus bench ad and when he was through I took my Kodak camera and I stood in front of it and I took a photo of it which I still have today 50 years later. The bus bench ad was a custom job they had never had before because I didn't advertise a business but I did advertise the word of God. I thought it might help those busy drivers not to lose their temper so much if I had written on that bus bench a bible verse from Ephesians 4 26.

Be ye angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon your wrath and I noticed something strange occur on that busy three-way intersection after a while people actually slowed down to read that sign and I didn't hear as much angry honking horns for God's word was now on display on that street corner and I believe it sent a important message to those daily drivers as they went to and fro to home and work that life is too short to spend it in anger or there wasn't enough room on that bus bench to put the next verse in Ephesians which actually follows the one as a companion verse to not letting the sun go down upon your wrath for Ephesians 4 27 is a follow-up verse which reads neither give place to the devil the subject of my little devotion today friends is anger and how anger gives place to the devil I believe one of the most destructive elements in a family home is uncontrolled anger a home where there are sudden outbursts of anger like a thunderstorm where doors are slamming and dishes are breaking I say dishes are breaking because that's what happened in my parents home when I was growing up my mother would start yelling at my father at the kitchen table for one fault or another and he would stand up take his plate of and throw it violently into the sink smashing it all to pieces I know what it was like to live in a home filled with violent outbursts of anger and foul language my parents weren't Christians but I was and I had surrendered to Christ at a revival meeting in 1967 but it didn't change the atmosphere of my godless home for my parents only gave me a godless example of anger in that little home I want to speak to you today friends about anger in the home outbursts of anger surely give place to the devil and anger attracts demons as well in case you didn't know my home that I grew up in was not only an angry home but it was a haunted home haunted by demons if you are a believer and you struggle with anger and bitterness and unforgiveness you're not only walking on thin ice friend you're contributing to evil in your home that affects every member of your family in a negative way apart from infidelity drunkenness and physical violence there's nothing more upsetting and unsettling in a home than slam doors cussing shouting in fits of anger be angry and sin not our text says for anger is a grievous sin but let not the sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil an angry family member is like a typhoon in the home wrecking destruction upon all in its wake and if not resolved will eventually wreck you friend I wish I could show you a photo of that little serene bus bench with God's word scrawled upon it and the background of those clouds in that blue sky and contrast it with a photo of your face when you are in a fit of rage if you're struggling with unresolved issues in your life friend please seek christian counseling before it's too late get with your loved ones and confess your faults to them and your desire to be a better person in the home and a better example to the children surrender yourself to the lord jesus christ and ask him for the grace to conquer your rebellion and insubordination to him and to change you from a typhoon in the home to that peaceful scene of a blue sky and clouds on a bus bench from the heart of a teenage boy who knew there was a peace that passes all understanding and it comes from God alone give yourself to Jesus friend he can change you and change the entire atmosphere of your home let us pray