Anger is one of those emotions that we all have…to various degrees. 

I’ve been reading Good & Angry by the late David Powlison. The 2016 book has been sitting on my office book shelf since I got it over a year ago, but just never took the time to read it due to needing to read other books. The book, as you can surmise, is about anger and it is subtitled “Redeeming Anger, Irrational Complaining, and Bitterness.” Since I am considering preaching on those subjects in July and August I thought I would read it. So far, so good. 

Powlison says this: 

In real life, anger is the reaction that incinerates marriages and disintegrates families. It energizes gossip and guns down classmates. It divides churches, turns friendships into enmity, and erupts in road rage. It is the stuff of every form of grievance and bitterness…Anger is also the basic DNA of complaining, brooding, irritability, and bickering…The crucial issues in anger touch every one of us. (p.8)

That about says it all doesn’t it?  But there is more! He goes on to describe 3 different types of angry people. Here they are with my very brief summary:

1. Domestic Gunslinger. After describing a couple who literally had a gunfight in their house, Powlison says, “A gunfight is one way to cut another person off and protect your turf.” (p.11) He, of course, wasn’t talking about a literal gunfight, but simply fighting to get your own way, regardless of the other person’s feelings. 

2. The Volcano. My guess is that we are all familiar with this one. Someone suddenly has an outburst and we wonder, “Where in the world did that come from?” We never saw it coming. Rage seethes, often below the surface, until “the moment” when eruption happens. Someone pushes a button and regurgitation is the reaction. 

3. The Iceberg. This is the person who seems under control, but actually lives in a universe that features him or her. Everything they feel or say can be traced back to past actions, by someone else. Everyone is against them. And yet, they appear to be cool, calm, and collected on the outside.

I’m not a professional counselor and certainly don’t know the answers to all of this. But I think it is important that we acknowledge that we are all angry to some degree. I thought I was fine this morning until things started going awry-little things that don’t amount to a hill of beans-and I found myself being annoyed. Like typing this. Do you know many times I have had to stop and make corrections? You don’t want to know, nor do you want to take a thermometer to my collar. 🙂

Long story short: get control of your anger.