The Angry Face
by Travis Antonich
Hi children! Happy Sabbath. It’s made Travis here again with Downey Seventh Day Adventist Church. I hope you have all been well and enjoying the beautiful spring season. If you look outside everything looks a little more greener and flowers are blossoming and it’s it’s an awesome time to get outside and get some sunshine
Speaking of the Sun, now that things are starting to warm up and like the weather; Have you guys ever felt really hot? Have you guys ever felt extra hot and angry at the same time? right it’s it’s it’s not fun to be angry, but when it’s really warm and it’s hot. They say there’s that saying you your blood boils, right? It’s like feels like your blood is boiling inside of you. Well,my children’s story follows a child named Reggie. And Reggie used to make the best faces for his friends. He used to make these this funny face and all his friends would laugh. Or he could he could put on a happy face and get everyone smiling. But Reggie had a face many of his friends did not like. And that was Reggie’s angry face.
You see, when when Reggie would get angry, his eyes would squint. His ears would be very red. His ears would be so red. And his face would turn red. And and it was very scary. And he would always scare his friends every time Reggie got angry, because he didn’t know he is angry face was just terrifying. So one day Reggie is at the park. And he sees his three friends there. He sees his friend Sammy, his friend Bob, and his friend Tim. So Reggie, Reggie told himself I’m not going to show my angry face today. That’s what he said. Because he didn’t want to scare anyone. So he runs over there. And he says, Hey, guys, do you guys want to play a game? They said sure. What game do you want to play Reggie? And Reggie said how about we go play kickball? And Sammy said I don’t want to play kickball. She says I’m terrible at that game. I could never kick the ball. And that got Reggie a little angry because Reggie wanted to play kickball. So slowly Reggie’s ears started to turn a little red. thoracic already was under control. So he said okay no kickball. Let’s play hide and seek. And Tim said no, I don’t want to I don’t want to play hide and seek I’m I’m too tall and I always get found. And that got Reggie a little bit more angry and slowly Reggie’s, I started to squint. So then Reggie said, How about we just go down to the lake and throw some rocks? And they said, Okay, let’s go do that. And then Bob said, race you there. So they all went sprinting. And Reggie was a fast kid. But this time, Bob beat him. And Bob celebrated. He says, Yeah, I’m first I got here first. And that pushed Reggie over the edge.
Reggie was so angry. His face turned red like a tomato. Everyone could see him and everyone was afraid. All his three friends ran off to the other side. They said What’s the matter Reggie? And Reggie just said I’m angry. He says I’m very angry right now. And so he ran home. Reggie ran home. And he had a little treehouse in his backyard and he ran up to his treehouse. He sat there by himself and he said, You know what? No one could get me angry if I’m by myself. So Reggie just sat there by himself.
But Reggie’s neighbor was gardening his garden in the back. And his garden was right next to the treehouse on the other side. And Mr. Jones was an adult so he was able to see over the fence, and he could see Reggie there alone. So Mr. Jones calls out to Reggie, he says, Reggie, what are you doing up there alone in your treehouse? Reggie just said aaahhhhhh… he didn’t want to tell him the truth. Reggie said, I’m just having fun here alone. Mr. Jones could tell that Reggie had been a little pink on his face, and he was probably angry. And Mr. Jones asking, Are you sure that no one got you mad or angry? And Reggie’s told them. You know what, Mr. Jones? My friends got me angry. I did my angry face and scared everyone away.
And Mr. Jones, and Reggie asked Mr. Jones, he said, Mr. Jones, do you ever get angry? And what do you do when you start to feel red and hot and your blood is boiling? And Mr. Jones told Reggie said, you know, Reggie, I don’t really get angry. Because usually, when you’re angry, you feel other emotions first. Maybe you’re sad. Or maybe someone did something you didn’t like. And so Mr. Jones says, so I found that it’s best to talk to people when you’re before you get angry. Tell them how you feel. And that usually de-escalates the anger, right? If you could tell people how you feel, then you won’t get angry. You kind of let your feelings out before you get to that point.
And Reggie said, you know, Mr. Jones, I never thought about that. So he said, I’m gonna try that next time. So Reggie, the next day, Reggie goes back to the park. And he sees his friends. And they say, hey, Reggie, how are you? He said, I’m doing well. He says, uh, let’s go to the park to the lake, and throw rocks again. And they all say, okay, race, you’re there. So they all went racing. And then Reggie sprinted as fast as he could. And Reggie, got there first. But as he got to the lake, he slipped in the mud. And he got all muddy. And his friends were laughing. They kept laughing. And Reggie kept crawling over the mud. And he just had all this mud all over him. And then they laughed even more. And Reggie started to get angry. And he looked and turned to his friends. And he said, it doesn’t feel good to be laughed at. He says, I don’t like it when you guys laugh at me. And his friends said, Reggie, we’re not laughing at you. We thought you were playing a prank and getting all muddy to make us laugh. So Reggie turned to them. And you know what Reggie did? He showed them his funny face. And they all started laughing.
You see, Reggie thought they were making fun of him. But because Reggie told his friends how he felt. It turns out it was a misunderstanding. You see children, God doesn’t want us to get angry. Angry is a very dangerous emotion. It’s very destructive. When you feel angry, it scares people. You see, another name for Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus wants to have Jesus wants us to have peace in our hearts and not anger. You see, the devil gets angry. But God, God stays at peace. He wants us to have joy. So, I have a text here I want to read to you. It’s James chapter one verse 19, and 20 it says, So then my beloved brother and let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath. The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
You see, when we’re angry, we don’t have God’s character. So if we can control our anger, because there’s time, sometimes you might feel like you want to get angry. That’s how life is we have all these emotions. But we want to deal with our emotions in a good way. And maybe you don’t have someone to talk to when you feel angry. And that’s when you can always go to God in prayer. You can pray about it. Go to your friends or family. Teacher, tell them how you feel. And that will use that will definitely help you. So, remember these lessons, children. And I’ll see you next time have a beautiful Sabbath day you and your families. Have a good one. Catch you next time.