Jury Duty & Divine Appointments

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I believe God positively wills many things that happen in our lives (others, discomforts, He permits - weaving them into His plan to draw us even closer to Him).  So when I was called for Jury Duty, I took it in stride.  I had no idea how long I would be asked to serve ... and there are always deadlines looming at work, but I trusted that the the Lord had His reasons for allowing my name to be drawn.  My hope was that He might have an appointment in mind - someone He wanted me to meet and converse with.  (Sorry, couldn't think of an unencumbered way to end that sentence other than in a preposition.)

Now most of my day was simply sitting in the jury selection room, finishing up two books I was in the midst of reading.  One of them was Dr. Scott Hahn's Consuming the Word: The New Testament and The Eucharist in the Early Church.  I changed my seat a couple of times, giving me a chance to stretch my legs and get a change of scenery.  Around 1:30 though I moved back to the row in which I started and began working on an article in the journal I had brought.

About ten minutes into my writing the young lady a couple of seats to my right said, "Excuse me, are you reading that book?"  She was referring to the book by Dr. Hahn.  "Yes, I just finished it as a matter of fact. Have you read other books by Scott Hahn?"  She had - The Lamb's Supper. (Alright, any conversation that begins with a mention of Hahn's Lamb's Supper within the first minute is going to be an awesome one!)  She went on to say that she had just been thinking she needed a new book about the Faith to read and when she saw my book sitting on the chair thought, "That could be it!"  We ended up talking for almost the next two hours straight - Pope Francis, our children, the Sacrament of Marriage, Humanae Vitae, the sanctity of the family, the insanity of trying to draw up "Five Year Plans," etc.  

For a almost two hours I got to bask in the faith and witness of a young, working, thoroughly Catholic mom.  At the end of the day we were both excused from returning tomorrow. I am just very grateful to the Lord for letting my faith be built up by a sister - a sister that until today, I didn't know I had!  (Isn't Heaven going to be great?!)