The Prediction

December may have 31 days but it's a short school month. Why is that important? Read on, from October 3, 2007!

We started it last year. At the beginning of a month in the Fall, I give each of my students a blank calendar and have them fill in the dates. Next, I have them write on the calendar the day and class period they predict we will have the fire drill that Westbury Christian School is required by law to perform each month. Any student picking the correct date wins extra credit. Any youngster picking the right date AND class period has a quiz exemption thrown in to boot. Yesterday, October 2, we filled in our calendars. In a stunning development to the kids, we had our October fire drill today on October 3. Of the one hundred students in my classes, do you know how many chose today? Zero. We'll talk about it tomorrow but I know why. It was too soon. We generally have fire drills late in the month. Most predictions were for late in October or cutting the field in half, on the 16th-17th-18th. The kids played the odds....and lost.

Monday was October 1st. In my fifth period sophomore class on Monday, I asked Kristi if the Lord was going to come today. Her reply was, "Well, He might." Not content, I asked her specifically if she thought the Lord WAS coming that day and Kristi, very honestly, answered "No." The next day, I asked Kristi if she could recite for me the memory verse assigned for Wednesday, if I offered her a $100 reward as incentive. She told me she could not. Kristi knew the verse was coming but she simply wasn't ready. I asked if she would have been ready if she knew I might offer $100. Of course she would have been. (When we took the verse today, John 1:14, Kristi scored a 100%.) In my classes, we talked about how long we are going to live and we decided we are all going to live a long time. We talked how one of the cornerstones of Christianity is the end of time accompanied by the Judgment Day. With that as backdrop, we took our best shot at guessing the coming of the fire drill. Only one person knows the set time, our Lower School Administrator, Casey Farris, and he doesn't share his secret. Likewise, the Bible teaches that the day of the Lord is known only to the Lord. The problem is, we often act like we know what it is as well and what it is is a very long way off. Just like the fire drill. We never saw it coming.

Applicable quote of the day:
"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future."
Niels Bohr

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com