Actually, yesterday it was a drill. Today it was not. Today it was the real thing.  Yesterday, we all knew beforehand that this drill would take place and when it would happen. We were given specific written instructions detailing everything that needed to be done during this practice run we call “an armed intruder drill.” Today, the announcement coming over the loudspeaker into my classroom telling us we were in a lockdown situation caught me by surprise, completely off guard and unaware that there was a dangerous situation in our high school building at that very moment. How ironic it is that we had just done a pretend enactment of our response to just such a situation only twenty-four hours before this real life event.

I think that’s why it didn’t seem real at first. Yesterday, the students in my classroom and I had gone through all the required motions, complying with everything we were told to do. However, it was simply that – we were going through the motions – turning off lights, pulling window shades, locking classroom doors, moving against the wall in order not to be visible from the hallway through the windows in the classroom door, turning cell phones to silent and keeping quiet so as not to be detected. We did all these things but there was no sense of urgency in our actions. We were relaxed. What we did or didn’t do, did not seem to really matter. Our choices did not seem all that important to any of us at the time. After all, it was only a drill.

However, today it was NOT a drill. Our situation was very real. Our mistake would be to behave as if it were only a drill. We are used to drills. We have fire drills, tornado drills, (in some places earthquake drills?) and armed intruder drills. In these situations, our mistakes don’t matter because it’s just pretend. It is not real. But when things are real or true, mistakes matter. When it is not a drill, our decisions will mean the difference between life and death. 

So I’m thinking it’s important in life that I know the difference between a drill and the real thing. Because in a drill, it’s all pretend, so nothing I do matters and there are no real consequences. But in real life – everything I do matters and the consequences are very real. This brings to mind the parable of the servants whose master went away for awhile and entrusted them with some specific things to take care of while he was away. Their master’s return was a certainty, even though the servants didn’t know when that would happen. Nevertheless, this was not a drill. At some point their master would return and they would be called to account for what they had done or not done in his absence. The story is told in Matthew –

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. . . . After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. . . . ’Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! . . . Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “ (Matthew 25:14-21)

The servant with the two talents also doubled what he had been given to manage in his master’s absence. But the third servant did nothing with what he had been given. Perhaps he thought it was just a drill, so what he did didn’t really matter one way or the other, and maybe he even doubted his master’s eventual return? We are told he knew his master was a hard man, so he was afraid and did nothing but hide what he’d been given. Unlike the first two men, the third one received no reward. In fact, we are told this is what happened to him –

“And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:30) 

Today we sat in silence in our darkened third floor classroom for a little over an hour, not knowing what was happening in the rest of the building, nor specifically why we were in lockdown at all. Some may have begun to doubt that this situation was real as time wore on, perhaps deciding it was just a drill. After a while, we began to hear conversation and careless laughter from the classroom next door. It sounded like they were having a good time. I guess they had decided this was a drill, so how they chose to act didn’t matter. We received no further instructions or communication during the hour we waited, until at last we were dismissed from class to go home, as it was now the end of the school day. 

I realized today, my life is not a drill. It is the real thing. Every day is the real thing. So what I do matters. My Savior has redeemed me, restored me and given me many good gifts and talents that I am to put to good use while He is away. He is coming again! Many doubt His return and begin to think this life is only a drill – but this life is the real thing. It is NOT a drill! However, unlike lockdown protocol, I don’t have to sit in a darkened room waiting for His return. Jesus’s instructions to His disciples were pretty clear before He left them.

“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.’ . . . After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:15 & 19)

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Like the servants in the parable, entrusted with their master’s talents, I have been entrusted with the wonderful news of the gospel and the command not to keep it to myself (or bury it as the one servant did) but to freely share the good news with anyone and everyone who will listen. This life is NOT a drill – this is real! Jesus is coming again. In the meantime, what I choose to do with the days and the gifts (talents) God gives to me matters. How will I spend the treasure, the talents and the time on this earth that God has graciously granted just to me? My choices have consequences – eternal consequences. Like the servants in the story, when Jesus returns, I want Him to find that I have wisely used what He has entrusted to me. Like Luke 12:37 says,

“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.”

This life is NOT a drill – it is preparation for eternity. It is preparation for Jesus’s return. How you and I live each day matters to our Heavenly Father. I want to live each day with purpose, with passion and with the urgency that knowing this is NOT a drill demands of me. The return of my Lord and Savior, Jesus, may not seem imminent to me, but His promise to return is real – this is NOT a drill!  So the question is –

” . . . when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) 

I will live my God given life like it’s real – because it is. Jesus is coming back for His bride! (that’s you and me!) This is NOT a drill!

sincerely,  Grace Day