No, I’ve never been arrested, but …
It almost happened — twice.
I was attending a wedding in Oakland, California, and needed a place to stay that night. My sister and her husband offered their house in nearby Alameda, and they happened to be away that night. I arrived at the house and was supposed to enter on my own. She and her husband had neglected to tell me that there was an alarm system installed in the house, but they HAD provided a key. So, I innocently unlocked the door, and soon heard the automatic alarm go off.
My first thought was to call them. I had no idea how to turn the alarm off. I could not get ahold of them, so tried some of their friends. The friends may have told me how to do it, but by that time, the police had been alerted. I’m pretty sure I had it off by the time a police car parked nearby.
I noticed him park, and he very slowly and cautiously came toward the house. I had the front door open and spoke through the screen door and may even have opened it. I don’t think he had a gun drawn, but looked ready to if necessary. It took me awhile to explain that it was my sister’s house and I was staying for the night, but my sister hadn’t told me about the alarm system. He was very suspicious in the beginning, but after about fifteen or twenty minutes, I guess he believed me. I seem to recall giving him both my sister’s and their friends’ phone numbers. I assume he called them to check my story. Phew!
The second incident occurred on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Through a prayer group, I had connected with a student Bible Study there, though I was not a student. On this occasion, it happened to be a recess between quarters.
The Bible Study leader or facilitator was a (graduate?) student there. He always unlocked or had access to the Old Union building (number 29 on the current campus map). Being between quarters, we couldn’t get in at the usual door, but we found a back door. As we climbed the stairs to the meeting room, I heard some computer beeping that I didn’t recall hearing on other occasions there. The building seemed empty but for us.
We got to the meeting room and opened our Bibles on the table as we sat around it, and began the study. After five or ten minutes, we thought we heard voices, which grew louder. Pretty soon, we heard, even louder, “Put your hands up and stand still; no talking.” We were startled and puzzled, but after a short pause, realized that we had better cooperate.
As I recall, there were two of the campus police. They were dead serious. They took each person’s name, address, phone, and driver’s license number (if we could remember it while we standing with our hands up). We explained that we had a Bible Study there every week, and surely they could see the open Bibles on the table.
The problem for them seemed to be that since it was quarter break, we should not be there. They asked us to leave, which we did. That was the end of that.
So, besides a few traffic tickets, these have been my experiences of “a brush with the law.” Or does an IRS audit count? (The audit found no problem.) Pretty fortunate, I’d say.
clarakatalin 
Slight? Momentary?
“For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, NRSVCE)
Until a few years ago (and I’m 70 as I write this), whenever I heard or read this Bible verse, I thought, “Slight? Momentary? It doesn’t feel that way.” My own hardest personal cross might be chronic mild depression (dysthymia). It has never felt “momentary”. It is probably “slight” compared to major depression. But I also think of many who carry what look like quite heavy crosses: chronic physical problems, financial struggles, family breakdown, and emotional or mental health issues. They never looked “slight” or “momentary” to me.
Here is another translation of the verses. I am adding this and the next one just to give different shades of meaning, hopefully helping all to understand the verses. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, NIV)
And again: “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, NLT)
This immediately preceding translation might give the clearest or simplest meaning for us. And the two verses actually explain themselves, if we think about it.
It’s all about perspective, eternal perspective, that is. When I began to focus on eternity, which after all, is a lot longer than an earthly life, the quote started to make a lot of sense. Yes, I or others may be suffering now, but COMPARED TO the rewards, joy, and glory of eternity, what we’re going through is NOTHING. Yes, it doesn’t feel good if we focus on the current suffering, but if we focus on what awaits people of faith in heaven, it’s incomparable!
This is not to dismiss the very real pain that all of us go through, but to give hope that it won’t last forever. And, we probably should try to alleviate others’ suffering, if not our own. But I’ve found it very helpful to forget myself and focus on the glory to come, while always working to improve what can be improved in my little area of the world.
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