Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: STAND UP FOR JESUS (don't write about the song) (04/09/15)
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TITLE: Adjudication-ated | Previous Challenge Entry
By Bea Edwards
04/16/15 -
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What a peculiar way to open these proceedings.
“And…exactly what is it that you are asking, your Honor?” tentatively queried the young and obviously perplexed deputy DA.
I was wondering the exact same thing and let out a delicate sigh of relief when Tyler Applebee appealed for clarification. It was my first time in this courtroom and I had heard some rather harrowing stories about this honorable judge’s courtroom.
Peeking from beneath my barely mascaraed lashes, I hoped to verify my intuition. There was an inexplicable aura of kindness radiating from that face behind the bench-- nothing close to my preconceived notions.
“Will the authentic witness arise?” his voice reverberated through the rafters of the modest courtroom.
Everyone looked surreptitiously around to see who would stand. Given that everyone remained seated, the prosecutor cautiously offered, “We have Mrs. Loveless ready to approach the stand, your honor.”
“Will the true witness PLEASE stand up?” the imposing official demanded.
I cringed…and cleared my throat.
“Your Honor, may I call my clients to come forward?”
He acquiesced with a barely perceptible nod.
“Faith Johnson, Mercy Vincent, and Hope Williams, please rise and approach the stand,” I instructed in what I hoped was my most competent voice.
Was that a delicate twitch barely lifting the corners of the justices’ mouth? Am I witnessing something mischievous teasing his stern countenance?
The three young purveyors of truth, slowly arose, adjusted first their hair then the hems of their dresses, before approaching the bench as requested.
Barely tall enough to see over the edge of the highly-polished mahogany molding surrounding the judge’s station, the triplicate unwaveringly met the magistrate’s downward gaze while I handed him my documents.
“So young ladies,” he began in that paradoxically thundering yet tender voice, “It has been brought to my attention that you have spoken of The Way on numerous occasions. Fred Moss at Kiliner Buick attested that you Mercy Vincent, told him of a love unconditional. According to Fred, your exact words to him while he worked beneath your mom’s car were, and I quote, “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart,” 1 finishing with the comment that it was “available to all who believed.
“Hope Williams, it says here that while having your hair cut at Cynthia’s Snip Snap, you mentioned there was a place where she might appropriate eternal riches and a glorious inheritance for saints.” 2
“Finally, Faith Johnson, you young lady, approached Margaret Applebee in the Winn Dixie while she was sampling grapes and told her, She could be assured of things hoped for, and convicted of things she had never seen.’ 3
The deputy DA’s mother was so disturbed by your unusual words that she wasn’t able to sleep and phoned him and subsequently me in the wee hours before dawn.
Do you have anything to say in your defense young ladies?”
After a long pause the judge repeated, “Anything?”
Hope tentatively began, “Cynthia told me she was having problems with her husband Chuck and how miserable she has been…”
Mercy jumped in, “Yes and Fred seemed so gloomy that day mom took her car to him…”
Faith finished with, “I’m sorry, Your Honor, but Tyler’s mom seemed so embarrassed when I saw her scarfing down all those grapes at the produce stand, and when she asked me not to tell anyone and explained that everyone does it, I only wanted to reassure her that we are all guilty sinners but can have assurance everlasting.”
The justice stood while looking daggers at the DA.
He slammed down his gavel, smiled at the three teenagers and bellowed, “Case dismissed.”
1 2 Corinthians 4:16
2 Colossians 1:12
3 Hebrews 11:1
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well done.
God bless~
I would like to see this expanded into a longer story.