a long camping trip

the Word describes our bodies as tents. when you go camping and sleep in a tent, i dont think too many people would expect a four seasons experience. it's nylon and plastic. you expect it to leak, you expect it to mold, you expect it to rip and break down. it doesnt keep all the bugs out and it doesnt keep the cold out. i've never become angry at the tent or the company that made the tent because of all that.
why then, do i become angry or disappointed, when my body doesnt work right? or when it gets sick? unless my hygiene and diet is terrible i dont have much to do with the break down and sickness issues. God oversees all of that. He orders when parts should break, be diseased, mold, etc... and He orders when and if they should heal or be repaired. maybe we should actually rejoice with these illnesses because they, in essence, draw us closer to eternity. your body doesnt recuperate from the second heart attack like it does the first. each break and tear brings your tent closer to being discarded for an eternal glory.
we're waiting on "life" to swallow up the mortal parts of us. illness and brokenness go hand in hand with trials of your faith. it's obvious what ways you can be tried through severe illnesses. but i wonder if our enemy would be early defeated if we kept the mindset that the illness was moving us closer to our eternal home? is that view too sadistic? i dont know. more pondering is needed there.
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in the mean time... my profession here on earth right now is being a police officer. God led me to this work nearly two years ago. so i'll tell stories and i'll rant and rave against the "system" from time to time.
today i'm ranting. too easily can defendants ask for jury trials. our system of "innocent until proven guilty" has its good and bad aspects. good because innocent people can be liberated from false charges. but bad because guilty people can drag out the process and even get away with their crimes. when you get that dreaded blue ticket from the officer you have a court date to come speak to a judge. you can be tried right then and there in a "bench trial" or you can request a jury trial. bench trials are the best. i present my case, the defendant babbles about some useless information, and the judge finds them guilty.
but jury trials... the defendant gets a court date about 2 months down the road. then the case gets passed on to the solicitor. the solicitor tries to work out plea bargains with the defendant so the issue doesnt have to go to trial. if nothing works, a trial is scheduled. working that in to the officer's crazy schedule is very difficult. then all the jury trials are squeezed into one week. several poor juries are hammered with cases all week. by the end of the week they are sick of officers and courts and they find everybody not guilty. sneaky, evil defense attorneys play up irrelevant points and the juries feel like the "Man" is keeping a brother down and they find him not guilty.
and the costs involved from the time the officer makes a charge until the time he is found not guilty and the charge is erased from his record.... is 30 times more than what the find of his charge was. it's much more if he gets his own lawyer. i've seen guys pay $1000 for a lawyer to get out of a $150 ticket! the courts lose money, the state loses money, and cases get backlogged for years all because everybody has a damn right to a jury trial.
i think jury trials should be limited to severe cases... or at least cases with fines over $500. i'm sick of having juries decide for me whether or not i really saw that guy run a red light. they werent there. how could they fairly decide?
anyways.... today i have jury trials. and i dont want to have them.