The yellow postcard came in the mail a few weeks ago. I received them before so I’m kinda used to them now.
“You are summoned to appear for jury duty.”
It’s been a few years since I went. I’ve never been selected to actually sit on a jury and hear a real-life trial in person and have to decide the fate of somebody I’ve never met.
Now you know why I put YIKES in the title.
I’ve been called for jury duty in many locations I’ve lived in. I learn something new at each one. I feel like a veteran jury duty person now.
I sat in the big room with everyone else who got a yellow postcard the same day I did. We waited and watched the video about jury duty. They added some funny clips from some movies to keep us awake.
Then they called out some names to go out and follow a nice bailiff somewhere in the courthouse.
My name was called out on the second set of names. A few years ago my name never even got mentioned so they let me go home before noon.
I went with the group to courtroom 4. They seated us in the order our names were called in.
From previous experiences I knew my seat was one of the hot seats.
Lawyers from each side ask questions to get a feel for who they want or don’t want to hear this trial. Each one gets to say who they don’t want. I was in the second row of two and a half rows.
One person in the first row made the cut. Five of us from the second row heard our names called to sit on the jury. Gulp
Fortunately this wasn’t a life or death case. We had to decide which of the young parents was beating up on the other. A daughter was caught between them.
The ex-husband was accused of hitting her in several ways the day after Christmas.
The ex-wife was bringing these charges against him. He claimed she had the anger problem.
From the opening statements from the lawyers it was obvious somebody was lying. That was our decision to make.
The young woman took the stand and gave us a blow by blow of what she claimed occurred.
A very nicely dressed woman brought a piece of paper in and handed it to the ex-wife’s lawyer’s assistant.
Shortly after that her lawyer asked to approach the bench. We were an hour into the trial and were told we’d likely take a break every hour or so.
We were told to go to the back room and wait.
We sat in silence for another hour because we were told we couldn’t even talk about the case amongst ourselves.
When we were finally escorted back into the courtroom the state’s lawyer stood up and told the judge the charges were being dismissed.
We filed back to the back room followed by the judge. He told us this was the quickest case he had ever heard.
Apparently the young woman was involved in another case that was about to cross over into this one and make it a real mess for her.
We were thanked by the judge and told our jury duty status was fulfilled for the next two years at least.
Truth is a funny animal sometimes. It has a way of rearing its head when you least expect it to sometimes.
I have a quaint little hobby of mine I probably shouldn’t get involved in, but it’s kind of enlightening.
I answer some of those spam emails where somebody is calling out for help to accept a large sum of money before they die of some terrible disease.
I send the bare essential information to keep the spam scam going for as long as possible.
It’s amazing how the death bed turns into a visit request or the person is in another country for some reason.
I prefer to stay bound to the truth in my life. The facts are much easier to remember that way.
Of course being adopted by the one who claims to be the Truth is the best place anyone can be grounded.
If more folks found the rest they need in Jesus then there wouldn’t be all this mess in life.
Families would get along better. People would look for ways to help each other rather than trying to take something from someone else.
All I can do is tell as many people about Jesus and the love He offers and the truth that sets men free.
What they do with that truth is up to them.
Help me get the word out.
I’ll see you later. Wade
