Daily
Devotional

Webster defines a bully as “one habitually cruel to others who are weaker.”

At the beginning of ninth grade, I was entering one of the most traumatizing periods of adolescence: high school. Back then, a boy named Arvid was one of my biggest causes of concern. He earned the title of “the bully,” and I seemed to be his favorite victim. Because of him, I came to understand how fear intimidates.

Arvid was large by any standard, and I was decidedly not. He was at least a foot taller than me and weighed two hundred pounds, while I was more like the ninety-pound weakling featured in Mr. America comic books. When we lined up for the bus, he would shout, “Hey chicken!” or, “Skinny!” or any other name that came to mind. Other times, he would just stand right next to me, trying to scare me with his sheer size and proximity. And I was scared!

After almost a whole school year had passed in this way, my agony came to an unlikely conclusion when a running back from the football team stood up for me on the bus one day. He hollered at Arvid, “If you bother him again, you will hear from me!” Arvid never threatened me again after that. A few months later, his family left town, and I never saw or heard from him again.

Sometimes I wonder what ever became of this bully. Was he drafted into the military? Did he become one of the faceless casualties of the Vietnam War? Did anything good come of him? Or did all his anger lead to a prison cell?

Since those days, I have been in a number of prisons and jails myself. Pastoral visits have been a large part of God’s calling on my life. From Hawaii to the Midwest, I have spent much time visiting with the “Arvids” of life. At first I resented Arvid and the way he treated me, but when I surrendered my life to the Lord, He took away the desire for revenge. I now have peace and true empathy for people like Arvid, realizing that most bullies have probably been mistreated or ignored in their homes. Indeed, Arvid’s most horrible tormenting usually followed a night of fighting in his home, and many of the prison inmates I meet would likely admit to having the same type of home life. In such cases, acts of aggression are a direct result of a broken relationship with parents; yet I know that if they met the Heavenly Father, He could resolve all of their problems.

Thank God that He has overcome the tribulations of the world! He gave me victory over the intimidation and resentment I had for Arvid, and He can give bullies victory over the root causes of their aggression. That is my hope and prayer for every long-time bully I meet in the prisons. May it be the prayer of each of us for the many troubled souls we meet in life.