Well my stint of jury duty is over. For a year. It is so nice to wake up this morning without that looming in the future. Nothing happened though. I ended up not having to go on Monday morning, I called back at noon on Monday and then at 5:00 I had to be there Tuesday morning at 7:30. I wasn't though, I got there at 8:30. I left here at 7:10 got down the road and had to turn around, because I forgot my jury summons.
I got back on the road at 7:15. Traffic was now heavier and slower. I was heading into the downtown part of Bakersfield.
I got to the courthouse, and there was a train on the tracks. The Juror parking is on the other side of the train. I turned my car around and drove to an underpass, got to the area where the parking was and parked.
There is a foot bridge that is about five flights of stairs so you can go up and over the train. Then you have to walk a long ways to get to the court house. I knew I was late, so I was walking very fast. I got to the juror services building and the line was all the way out the door. So I waited, and talked to all of the other people who didn't want to be there.
I got my badge, and the room was already filled. I found a chair along a back wall. AS far away as I could get from that Television. The one that plays drivel all day long. Then proceeded to wait. I found out that in the juror parking area, if you are touching or are on the white line they will fine you 35 dollars every two hours until you move your car. So then I kept wondering if I had parked good. ( I had when I went out at lunch time.) It wasn't posted by the way, just a rule they thought up to get money.
The ladies I sat next to were very nice and we talked and talked. Everyone was so nice and it wasn't bad at all. Then the bailiff came over from the courthouse to get about I think about 50 people. So we sat as they went down the list alphabetically. I was so glad when they got past the Hs. All of the people filed out. It was now 11:00 A.M. One of the ladies I was sitting with, suddenly started talking about Bigfoots. I don't mention it much, but have a fascination about bigfoot stories. I thought, 500 people here today and I sit next to a woman who is even more interested in big foot than I am. So I listened. She shared some of the really weird things she has seen and it was kind of fun. It got my mind of that clock that was slowly ticking by.
It was lunch time, so I walked all the way back to my car and drove home. I did a few things and then drove back and there was another train so I repeated the morning climb and walk back to the courthouse. One of the ladies whom I had been sitting next too but had been picked, said. they had sat outside the courtroom the whole time and had never even been inside. They weren't going to reconvene until 2:30.
So we sat some more, and talked and read a book and watched the clock. And watched the clock. At 3:00 all of the people who had been picked earlier for the trial started filing in to turn in badges. They had been excused.
At 3:30 the courthouse employee, got on the loud speaker and told the people who are on the patio smoking that they need to come inside, which normally means, bailiff is on the way. Everyone starts filing in with sad looks on their faces. Our stint is over at 4:00 I might add. As everyone gets in the door, she says, "
Thank you for your service today, you can go home." Everyone suddenly had smiles on their faces and people are almost dancing getting their things and are so happy to be free. I walked back to the car so happy to be out of there.
On Monday, when I was praying and reading my Bible trying to get a handle on my fear and anxiety. The Lord gave me this verse. " Behold, The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear."(Isa. 59:1) At the hardest times in my life, when I was the most afraid, He has always given me this verse. I was so happy, but really woman of such little faith, didn't want to get my hopes up, thinking could it mean what I thought it meant. I did hang on to that verse, all day Monday and Tuesday.
Then as I was getting ready, I just had to sit for a minute and read what God was telling me to do yesterday.
He told me, " Therefore do not worry...I want you to be without care...Why are you so fearful? How is it you have no faith? Have faith in God." (Matt. 6:31,1Cor. 6:32, Phil.4:6, Mark 4:40-11:22)
Then it was all over and I realized that once again, God delivered me. I had worried and fretted and maybe lost at least 2 years off of my life. I just wish, I could be normal and didn't play the what if game all of the time. Someday though, I will learn this. The lady who liked bigfoots, said to me, " You are a person who wants to control her life, you have a hard time when you can't control things around you. You need to learn to just accept what you cannot change." She smiled and said, " You need to enjoy the journey."
Words to remember for me. I think since God went to all of that trouble to get me there, I need to listen.
What a lovely Wednesday it is too!
~Kim~
" A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us."
---John Steinbeck
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