Roshi Para, Bangladesh—I’m Ukyaching Khayang, a Bible worker in Bangladesh. The young people in my neighborhood like to play football (soccer). When they’d win against other teams, everyone would dance and sing for joy. But if they lost, everyone would become angry and begin blaming each other.
One Friday I attended a game. Within the first 20 minutes the opposing team had scored two goals. The Roshi Para team started to bicker and then began to pick fights with members of the other team.
I entered the field to stop the quarreling. My counsel to cool down and then resume playing fell on deaf ears. The Roshi Para team refused to continue playing the opposing team. Everyone left the field and went home.
Later I met with the Roshi Para team again and told them how acting out in anger can cause all sorts of problems in life. It’s important to think things through and make choices with a cool head, I told them. This time the boys listened and agreed.
The next Sabbath, I preached on the topic of anger and read from Matthew 5:21-26. Football team members were at church that day. They told me they liked the sermon and the Bible verses. Since then there haven’t been any more fights at the games.