For most of my life I was blissfully untouched by interaction with judicial law, but that changed when my favorite felon, Lance, lived with us. I took him to many court appearances. He was, if not okay with, at least, accustomed to them. I was his transportation, spare Mom, and nervous newbie to the Lake County legal system. I felt good about being there for him, he had needed someone in his corner for a long time. The charge which made him a felon when he came to us was aggravated assault for beating the dealer who was selling meth to his sister. It was aggravated assault because he hit him with a flashlight. He said he got the idea by watching cops do it. Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery, in this case it was battery. The judge must have either liked Lance or hated the dealer because, despite ten years of previous infractions, he was willing to drop the charge from his record if Lance could stay out of trouble for three years. Sadly, he did not make it three months. He left our home one night to go on a date. We found him three days later in the Kalispell jail. It was during those days of wondering what had happened to him, that God gave me the assignment of being the mom he never had. I gave him another chance. The court did not. His opportunity to have the charge removed was gone forever.
Even from my limited experience I have found it is not uncommon for the court to give the option of removing charges from one's legal record. That is surprisingly merciful coming from a secular system. I was thinking how nice it would be if I could do the same. Christians are not supposed to keep records of wrongs against us, but we do. Maybe I could extend the same minimal mercy to people on my list. If _____ does not sin against me for _____ period of time, I will remove, if not all, at least one, of the charges from my mental record of wrongs. In view of all Christ has done for me, if I cannot resign from my self-appointed role as judge, perhaps I could be a merciful one instead and expunge a few charges against the people on my private naughty list and take them off the record.
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