Funny Meeting You Here

I had a really weird experience this past weekend.

On Saturday, I was part of a Home School Book Sale that was held in the community center at our local park here in Liberty. This was a very small affair; there were only about 7 vendors there in the first place, and I use the term “vendor” very loosely.

One of the vendors, for instance, was a local family selling used books. I was also there as a “vendor” with my 2 books and back issues of Making It Home magazine for sale. Maybe 35 people attended over the course of the day (and at least 15 of those were children accompanying their parents).

By noon, the “mad rush” was over, and I was thinking about packing up and going home except that at 1:00 p.m. a small group was going to discuss homeschooling through high school, and Catherine wanted to join them.

So here’s the situation: It’s about 1:30 p.m. and I’m at the tail end of a small event that only a few people even knew about in the first place. It’s being held in a relatively secluded building in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere (or barring that, certainly well off the beaten path). I’m just sitting there at my table, reading a book and killing time. Other than us “vendors”, the place is deserted.

All of a sudden I look up to see a woman standing at my table. She’s the only one there, and I didn’t see her come in.

She’s looking at the sign I had made for my book What So Proudly We Hailed, which pretty clearly describes it as an Orwellian, “dystopian future” kind of novel.

We strike up a conversation, and she asks me if I’ve ever seen Aaron Russo’s film “America: Freedom to Fascism”. I said yes, although it’s been 2 ½ years since I watched it.

Then she says, “I’m Marci Brooks, the juror”.

And my jaw dropped.

If you’re not familiar with “America: Freedom to Fascism”, part of it highlighted a court case in Illinois or Indiana (my memory fails me) in which a man was brought to trial for failing to pay Federal income tax. His defense sounded almost ridiculous: there was no law that said he had to pay income tax.

The amazing thing though, is that he was right! As incredible as it may sound, the prosecution could not show the jury that there was any law in existence that said the man had to pay income tax, and since there was no law to break, he had committed no crime. The jury acquitted him.

Marci was on that jury, and Aaron Russo interviewed her for the documentary.

And now here she was at this little nothing event out in the sticks talking to me. Funny who you bump into in the middle of nowhere. As it turns out, she’s moving here to Casey County. How interesting.

So what does that mean? I have no idea. But you have to admit, it’s kind of weird. Some people might call it a “strange coincidence”, but since I don’t believe in coincidences, all I can think of is that God is up to something. He’s moving people around where He wants them to be, and there’s a reason for it, even if I don’t know what it is yet.

I have a feeling though, that I’m going to find out. Maybe sooner, maybe later. But eventually.

For a man with a completely boring life, mine sure is interesting.