THE TRIAL

After living a "decent" life,

my time on earth

came to an end. The first

thing I remember is sitting

on a bench in the

waiting room of what I

thought to be a court house.



The doors opened

and I was instructed to

come in and have a seat by

the defense table. As I

looked around I saw

the "prosecutor," he was a

villainous looking

gent who snarled as he

stared at me, he definitely

was the most evil

person I have ever seen.



I sat down and looked to my

left and there sat my

lawyer, a kind and gentle

looking man whose appearance

seemed very familiar

to me.



The corner door flew open and

there appeared the

judge in full flowing

robes. He commanded an

awesome presence as he

moved across the room and I

couldn't take my eyes off of

him. As he took his

seat behind the bench he

said, "Let us begin,"

The prosecutor rose and said,

"My name is Satan

and I am here to show you

why this man belongs in

Hell." He proceeded to

tell of lies that I told,

things that I stole and in

the past when I

cheated others. Satan told of

other horrible perversions

that were once in my

life and the more he

spoke, the further down in my

seat I sank. I was

so embarrassed that I

couldn't look at anyone, even

my own lawyer, as

the Devil told of sins

that even I had completely

forgotten about.



As upset as I was at Satan

for telling all these

things about me, I was

equally upset at my

representative who sat there

silently, not offering

any form of defense at all.

I know I had been

guilty of those things, but

I had done some good in my

life - couldn't that

at least equal out part of

the harm I've done?



Satan finished with a fury

and said "This man

belongs in Hell, he is

guilty of all that I have

charged and there is

not a person who can prove

otherwise."



When it was his turn, my

lawyer first asked if he

might approach the

bench. The judge allowed

this, over the strong

objection of Satan, and

beckoned him to come forward.



As he got up and

started walking, I was

able to see him now in his

full splendor and

majesty. Now I realized why

he seemed so familiar, this

was Jesus representing me,

my Lord and my Savior.



He stopped at the

bench and softly said

to the judge "Hi Dad" and

then he turned to address the

court.



"Satan was correct in saying

that this man had

sinned, I won't deny any of

these allegations. And yes,

the wage of sins is

death and this man

deserves to be punished."

Jesus took a deep

breath and turned to his

Father with outstretched arms

and proclaimed,

"However, I died on the

cross so that this person

might have eternal life

and he has accepted me

as his Savior, so he is

mine."

My Lord continued with "His

name is written in

the Book of Life and no one

can snatch him from me.

Satan still does not

understand yet, this man is

not to be given justice, but

rather mercy." As

Jesus sat down, he quietly

paused, looked at his Father

and replied, "There

is nothing else that

needs to be done, I've done

it all."



The Judge lifted his mighty

hand and slammed the

gavel down and the

following words bellowed from

his lips, "This man

is free - the penalty

for him has already been paid

in full, case dismissed."



As my Lord led me away I

could hear Satan ranting

and raving, "I won't

give up, I'll win the next

one!"

I asked Jesus as he gave me

my instructions on

where to go next, "Have you

ever lost a case?"

Christ lovingly smiled and

said, "Everyone that

has come to me and asked

me to represent them has

received the same

verdict as you . . . Paid in Full."



In this world of terrible

hurt, pain, suffering,

and extreme self-centered

focus to the exclusion of

everyone else, there

are times when logic,

thought, discussion, etc., do

nothing. It is in

these times that I have

learned that I have only one

place to turn to

ease the pain.