The other day at work as we were finishing up for the day, the nurse manager got on the paging system in the building and announced, “Code T, Code T.”

I had no clue!

Was she just joking about something?  Was it something real?  I know about ‘code blue’ and ‘code red’ but ‘code T’?  Everyone was walking leisurely to one area of our building.  So I followed.  “What is going on?” I queried.  “Tornado drill,” someone answered.  “Ohhh …” I thought … “There must be some bad weather outside and there is a threat of tornadoes.”  Really??  No – it was just a drill and one that I hadn’t been told about before.  The “T” of course stood for tornado and there is a designated safe place in our building – in case of a real tornado.

A ‘drill’ is a good thing.  It can help you train or rehearse you on a subject or procedure.  When there is suddenly a fire, a non-responsive patient, or even a tornado – you can be ready to react and help almost automatically because of the repetitive practice drills you have performed.

It made me think.  🙂

Prayer and bible study are the practice drills for our faith!  You might say you believe in God, but if you never go to church or train by reading the instruction manual (I’m talking Bible here) then how are you going to react when trouble happens?  All too often, people who say they are Christian but do not practice their faith will call desperately to God when something bad happens in their life and they need help.  That’s okay because God will hear us when we call – and He remembers us – even when we haven’t been around to visit in a while.  He may even send you a little life challenge to grab your attention and get you back in the fold.  But wouldn’t it be better to be prepared and ready for troubles?  People are always attending in-services and seminars to become better at their jobs and professions.  We all need to drill ourselves in our faith.  It will help us stay calm and prayerful in a crisis, knowing and believing God’s peace.  But keep in mind that – just like a medical person has been drilled and trained to do CPR on a person in a medical crisis – maybe we can jump in and do some sharing of God’s peace and love when we see someone in a personal crisis.  No one is going to yell “Code P, Code P,” when they are in need of some prayer.  You’re going to jump right in there and help when you see that help is needed.  If you’ve been spending time in prayer and studying your manual – it will just come naturally.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

Someone at the office tornado drill asked if there were any other ‘code’ drills that we needed to know besides the code blue, code red, and code T.  We were told that those were the only drills but that we needed to know what to do in case of a bomb threat.  What??  A bomb threat?  I know the code word for that – RUN!

Just Laurel