Mock Trial

Yesterday (Saturday), I spent a good part of my day at the county courthouse with my youngest daughter as she participated with her "criminal justice team" from her Public Speaking & Debate class. It was a somewhat well-organized event with ten local schools competing for the accolades of being the best team to perform in a mock trial. For weeks all teams at the ten schools reviewed the same case, created questions for the witnesses, and practiced their procedures and court protocol in class. Day after day after day. There was a team of three prosecutors or three defense attorneys and three witnesses from each group. Everything was rehearsed except for the cross-examination questions from the other "lawyers" from another team. That's when the rubber met the road. It's easy to learn by rote memory, learn by experience and practice, but then the unfamilar, the unexpected, the unrehearsed comes and we are in a completely different ballgame.

I was not a judge, but I would imagine that a good majority of the points given would come from the ability to handle the pressure of being cross-examined. The witnesses that could handle the pressure, would not buckle under the scrutiny of the "opposing" lawyers, could keep their cool and stick to their story, would be the ones that would gain a hefty amount of points. In addition, the lawyer who could redirect questions after a particularly harmful cross examination in a powerful and pointed way, would take the competition to the next level.

Our kids represented themselves well, even though they did not win any accolades (other than from the extremely biased parents present). I talked with my daughter on the way home (always looking for those powerful parenting moments) about the rehearsed and the unrehearsed things in life. When we are absorbed in Christ and His Word, even the unexpected can be handled with dignity and a grace that cannot be defined any other way except - incredible!!

Life is not a mock trial. It's the real thing and even though we may do everything to prepare ourselves for it, there are those times when the cross examinations can be baffling, overwhelming, and downright cruel! Thankfully, we have a Savior who has lived through his own real criminal trial, perhaps the cruelest and most unfair in history, but He also has the answers before we even know the questions! I personally want Him on my side in the courtroom of life!