Just Shoot Some Hoops

By Matt Clark

     Just recently, while I was driving to my morning classes, I witnessed a sight which woke something up inside me. As I was driving on a highway, a car pulled directly in front of the car next to me, causing the driver to slam on his brakes. That same driver quickly began to tailgate the car which had just pulled in front of him. As I passed them, I noticed that there was less than a foot between the two bumpers. I looked at the man who was doing the tailgating and saw nothing but anger in the man's eyes. This made me realize that I have the very same problem. I have had people pull out onto a busy road in front of me causing me to brake. As a natural response, I accelerate to get just as close as I can to the car in front of me. That day, though, those two drivers made me realize that sometimes I do not control my anger the way I should.
     Anger is a very powerful emotion that can vary in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage. Anger can be caused by both external and internal events. You could become angry at a specific person (such as a co-worker, a fellow student, or a parent), an event (such as a traffic jam, a bad test grade, or your favorite sports team losing a big game), or your anger could be caused by worrying about your personal problems. Memories of traumatic or enraging events can also trigger angry feelings.      As Christians, it is very important for us to try to control our anger; because, if we let our anger build up, we could "lose it." By "lose it" I mean lose your temper, and you could find yourself doing things you do not normally do. This could be swearing, hitting, kicking, breaking things, or a variety of other actions which are unacceptable for a Christian.
     Now do not get the wrong idea, I am not saying that you should keep all of your anger bottled up inside you. That is almost just as bad as "losing it." Consider a bottle of pop. If you unscrew the cap without shaking the bottle, the air comes out at a normal rate and you can enjoy your pop. On the other hand, if you shake that bottle of pop first and then unscrew the cap, the air pressure inside the bottle is going to rise, the fizz and pop inside is going to explode out from the bottle, and you are going to have a big mess to clean up. If we let our anger build up inside us, it is going to explode just like the shaken bottle of pop. If we let our anger out before it builds up, then we should be safe, and we will not have a big mess to clean up later. Remember the example of Jesus and the money-changers in John 2:13-16.
     "When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" (NIV)
     In this passage Jesus was obviously angry at the money-changers, but He did not "lose it." Jesus controlled His anger, and in doing so, gave us a perfect example of how we can control our anger. Since we are to strive to follow Jesus' example as closely as possible, this passage tells us that we are allowed to become angry, just as long as we control that anger, and not let it control us.
     So, you may ask, how am I to release my anger without letting it control me? The answer to that question is not an easy one, because I feel it is different for every person. Whenever I get mad, and I can feel my anger beginning to control me, I like to go outside (if I am at home) and play a little basketball. The physical activity allows me to get my anger under control. In a way, you could say I sweat my anger out.
     There are many other methods of expressing your anger in a healthy manner. I have heard that some people like driving to calm them down, but I would be reluctant to try this because I just feel driving a car when you are already angry is a bad idea. Other ideas are: 1) Breathe deeply for a while; 2) Slowly repeat a calm word or phrase such as "relax," or "take it easy;" 3)Use imagery to visualize a relaxing experience.
     The methods I just mentioned usually work for me, but keep in mind that they may or may not work for you. The point is that you need to have some way to calm yourself down when you become angry. These methods can be used to control your anger when you are at home, school, work, or in the car. So, the next time you feel yourself getting angry, pick up a basketball and just shoot some hoops.