Even as I type this, I still can't believe it actually happened.
Let me set the stage:
Yesterday, Jim and I decided to celebrate our July 4th by going with a group of friends up to Turtle's Back Falls to enjoy a picnic and slide off dangerous rocks into freezing cold water. Altogether, there was seven of us that made the trip so, in order to carpool, we took a friend's late '80s model 15 passenger van (a "sweet ride" as Jim put it).
If you have ever been there, you know that you park at Gorges State Park and hike about 3/4 of a mile to the falls. Now, however, they have closed off the Park access for renovations and there is no where to park except beside the road among the "No Parking Any Time" signs. When we arrived we saw about 15 other cars that had parked illegally so we decided to follow the crowd. Our reasoning was that any parking ticket we received wouldn't be so bad split 7 ways (it doesn't make it any less illegal, I know, but we had driven a long way just to turn back). So we parked and made our way down to the falls.
After a fantastic, relaxing, beautiful time, we hiked back to find (not to our surprise) a cop behind the van with his lights on. I glanced at the other cars and, of course, they all had tickets. We approached the vehicle, ready for our consequences. Our driver, Josh, went to get the registration and his license, the cop following him. Josh has naturally "sleepy, soft eyes", an attractive quality (in any other situation). In addition, after swimming in the river, his eyes were dry and RED... you can probably see where I'm going.
Deputy Fife (as he will be referred to hereafter) then said to Josh, "Give it to me straight, man, have you guys been smoking pot today?". Of course, Josh denied it, respectfully, but firmly. Deputy Fife, however, convinced of his detective skills, said loudly to the park ranger there with him, "I smell pot, I'm gonna search the van." He proceeded to have us sit in a row in the grass (yes, just like on Cops) while he tossed our packs and the vehicle. He treated us like dumb pot-head teenagers the entire time saying things like, "This won't take long if you're not lying to me", and "Yea, everyone says they've never smoked pot before". He even said "Well, I'm gonna search the van and show you what pot smells like". Just an all around jerk, in my opinion. Apparently, there was no chance that maybe we had NOT smoked pot.
After searching the van, of course yielding nothing, he said to us, "Well, I guess you guys slipped through my fingers ... I'll just be honest with you, I really believe you smoked today". It was a wretched feeling to drive away knowing that he still thought that. I can't imagine what people feel like that have been wrongly accused of murder and live their lives in prison... sheesh.
The good news is that we didn't get a parking ticket for some reason. My mom said it was because he didn't want us to file a complaint. I would have rather paid for part of the ticket and hear him say, "Well I guess I was wrong, sorry guys". It's like the famous play, "The Crucible" where the main character is told to admit (falsely) to witchcraft and he refuses, upon pain of death, for "... it is my name!!"
I know this is talking about deacons... but it still works:
1 Tim. 3:7 "... He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap."
