The Summons

 I've lived in a number of different places and was never summoned for jury duty until I moved to Houston. The following is from June 4, 2007.


It came in the mail last week. Official looking envelopes make me nervous, even my tax refund from the IRS. Inside the envelope was a command for me to report to jury duty. I've lived in Nebraska, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and now Texas since my eighteenth birthday and it was only my second summons to fulfill my civic duty. There was a problem. The date my presence was requested, July 5, will find me flying back to Houston from St. Louis on the tail-end of a family reunion in Arkansas. It isn't impossible that I might be able to make it back for the 12 noon reporting time but there is no margin for error. There was another dilemma. Two days later, I will be leaving the country for my eight day mission trip to Honduras so if I were to be selected, I might be gone by the time the trial commenced. Fortunately, Dr. David Lacey, our Upper School Administrator at Westbury Christian and a lawyer, explained to me how jury duty could be rescheduled twice without a problem. I called the phone number on the notice and was directed to the court's website. Online, I was able to reschedule my time to August 2, which happens to be during our school in-service. The justice system will just have to survive until further notice.

Too bad it isn't always that easy. A click or two of the computer mouse and we can rearrange a court date but not everything is that simple to shuffle. There is coming another time when I will be summoned to appear in court. In Acts 17, Paul explained that day to the men of Athens:"For he (God) has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed." (verse 31)There is no wiggle room in that date. It is set and not negotiable. It won't matter if I am on a plane or sleeping in bed. It could be the day of a my funeral or it might coincide with my wedding. It can't be changed on the calendar for my convenience. And if I have lived my life well, I wouldn't want it to be postponed. Now, the only question is, which court appearance of mine will come first?

Applicable quote of the day:
"When you go into court, you are putting your fate in the hands of twelve people who were not smart enough to get out of jury duty."
Norm Crosby


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com