my morning in court

I was having an amazing dream when my alarm went off at 6 this morning. Unfortunately I was not getting up to work out or have a fantastically long queit time, I was waking up to go to court. It sounds so scary right? I thought so too. Garrett and I had my mom's Avalon passed down to us when we got married, and because we never received a notice that our tags were out of date, I got a ticket about a month ago. When we went to the revenue office to renew the car the lady told us to take our paperwork to court and try to get out of it.

So that was my goal this morning, to talk my way out of a 170 dollar ticket. I got there and realized that it wasn't just traffic court but the same court that people that have committed some pretty scary offenses go to. Garrett and I ended up waiting for almost 3 hours to have the "M's" called, and it turns out I would have had to make another court date to plead my case. So I gave up and paid the 170 dollars ( which was frustrating after waiting 3 hours.)

Really thats not the point of this post though, while I waited for 3 hours(with nothing to do) I listened to all the reasons why these people were there as they stood before the judge, confessing their crime and pleading guilty, or not guilty. It was a really sad and sobering experience to watch these broken people explain why they were on their 4th DWI, or why they were caught with cocaine, or why they were charged with domestic abuse.

It opened my eyes to the people that live in our community, that for whatever reason are driven to commit these offenses. You could see the pain and emptiness in many of their eyes, and my heart broke for them. Especially the ones that were toting around 1 or 2 babies with them.

When I was about to have my turn with the judge I was behind a guy that was possibly about to go to jail for 2 weeks. It made me feel pretty good about myself for only having a ticket for expired tags.

Thinking back about this experience as I sit here now the parallel struck me. Before the true and righteous judge (God the Father) we are all guilty. No matter what we have committed in our life, but it's so easy to feel good about ourselves because we don't think were struggling as much as the person next to us. I am just as broken and sinful as the people I sat next to in the courtroom today. That's a humbling thought.

I'm so removed from the pain of what really goes on in the world. Not just in the world but in my own community. It's strange how there can be such disparity when these people could live down the street from me.

When you have an experience where you can discern oppression and darkness, it makes the light of Christ so much more apparent. It brings one of my favorite passages, Isaiah 61 to my mind, and the mandate we have as believers....

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me to preach
the good news to the poor. He has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
freedom for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the
year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide
for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a
crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair."