Court Reconciliation
"Friends,
God's been kinda nudging me since early this morning to
share something that happened yesterday....no place special,
just my tiny Midwestern corner of the world. I hope that it
blesses you as it did me, and if it brings a tear at all, I
pray that it's a tear of gratitude, and that you find
someone to wipe it away for you. God promises us that when
we finally see Him, He will wipe away every tear
personally...until then, we need to be His hands, and
support and care for each other.
Some of you know that I'm a court reporter. I don't work in
a court (generally), but I'm part of the discovery process
that attorneys go through before they actually get to court.
I take depositions, which help people in the event that they
actually go to trial. Yesterday I had the most unusual thing
happen, and I'm convinced that God was in the room, that He
orchestrated the entire event.
The case had something to do with divorce, that much I knew
because of the nature of the "Smith v. Smith" name of it
(not it's real name...). These tend to be ugly proceedings,
and I wasn't looking forward to it, even less so when I
discovered that it was a child custody case, and that little
5-year-old Cameron's mom was suing for full custody. Well,
I'm here to tell you that it didn't happen....I was there
for nearly two hours, and I witnessed people struggling to
resolve a difficult situation, I witnessed hurt and
pain....and I never took a single word down.
My client, the attorney who ordered the deposition, started
out with a sort of mini-lecture which was meant as much for
his own client (Cameron's dad) as it was for the other
client. He said that he didn't want to go through with this
deposition, but that he was prepared to, and he promised
(albeit sadly) that there would be blood-letting before they
were finished. He guaranteed the witness that she would end
up hating him by the time he was done with her. The nature
of divorce proceedings and everything that goes with them,
he said, is very painful -- and then he explained further.
He talked about how the marriage contract is the only
contract that we step into in life that has so much emotion,
love and trust wrapped up in it, and that's exactly why it
hurts so much when it's broken. In a child custody battle,
everything is built on character assassination. Further, he
stressed that in a case like this, the person hurt the most
will be Cameron.
He promised both clients that if they went forward with
this, and if by some miracle it even got past the judge,
every single change in circumstance from that moment on
would have to be adjudicated. A change in school district?
Take it to court. A change in jobs? Take it to court.
Obviously it was a case that would bring lots of money for
this attorney who laid it all out for them, and then urged
them to communicate, to talk to each other and try to
resolve their "parenting time" without having to do a
deposition and go to court.
I should tell you that there's nothing I love more than
getting the record down, in terms of my job, and my fingers
were just bustin' to move. But I was as still as still could
be. I listened as they worked through painful details like
shared custody, and how to sort that all out. I listened to
hearts, I saw them struggle to look at each other as
concerned parents, fighting to get past the pain they had
both inflicted on each other, for the sake of their little
boy. I haven't been a court reporter long enough to get
cynical and jaded about the justice system, but I'm still
grateful that this happened early in my career. I'm amazed
at how much God's presence could be felt.
Then the attorney said, "In the words of Rodney King,
'Can't we all just get along?'" After two hours, they were
still talking, but I was sent home. He told me he'd call me
if they needed to reschedule a deposition.
Even as I write this, I'm reminded of the song "I Heard the
Bells on Christmas Day", and the line that keeps jumping out
at me is "God is not dead nor doth He sleep". So often we
see pain go unchecked, we see people eagerly sue each other
for their "rights". How often have we asked, "God, are you
seeing this? Lord, are you paying attention here?" This was
just one family, in one little Midwestern town...but isn't
this how it all starts? And doesn't this show us that God,
indeed, is paying attention?
I don't know if that attorney (his first name is Ron) is a
Christian, but I'm asking you to thank God with me for him,
and for the good work that he did yesterday. If he's not,
pray that God will continue bringing him closer, as He is
obviously doing. Pray for Cameron, and his mom and dad
(Peggy and Paul). Pray peace for them, and healing of the
hurt.
Blessings"
Chris (Received on Wednesday December 8th, 1999)
