Time To Panic

One of the hardest things in my ELA classroom is helping kids transition from picture book readers to chapterbook readers. They need confidence and guidance to pick books they can be successful with. If they pick a huge book for their first try, they often find themselves floundering and running back to their picture book comfort zone.

Because we do a program called AR, the kids have a point goal they must reach by the end of the quarter. I break the 100% into weekly goals for them so that we can all try to stay 'on track'. This works great most of the time ... But when I'm starting a kid on chapter books they sometimes become concerned. "What if I can't test on it this week and I'm not at _____ % by Friday?!". Try as I may to explain how chapter books are worth more points than picture books and will therefore jump their percent up higher when they do test on it, that can be a tricky concept for them to understand. If they get behind on their %, they panic and want to cram in all short books again.

So, my standard phrase of comfort has become this: "Give it a try. Dont worry. I promise I'll tell you when its time to panic."

I tell them daily "don't worry, we still have time. Its not time to panic yet."

And then as we near the end of the quarter I begin telling some that have gotten behind "okay, time to kick it in to high gear! The quarter's end is coming soon."

And rarely, oh so rarely I have to say "hey kiddo ... Its time to panic."

I only have to say that rarely because we know exactly send the end of our time is coming. We know when we must have our goal reached. We've broken our progress into tanagable chunks because we had a timeline to base it on. Planning = no need to panic.

But (ready for real world application?) Guess what. We don't know when Christ is coming. We weren't given a set date by which our goal of being ready for his return must be met. We don't have a definite end time - and therefore no set 'chunks' we can break our progress in to.

So, for all intensive purposes ... Its time to panic.

If you aren't saved ... If your life isn't right with God ... If you aren't SURE of your salvation, its time to panic! Because the end of our time could be any time. Later today? Tonight? Tomorrow? We don't know. So the only safe way is to be ready already - and stay ready every day!

Even my 4th graders know its better to reach your goal early so you don't have to be stressed. They also know that once they reach their goal, they need to keep reading to work on becoming a better reader.

And so it is with us. We need to be ready for the end of our time now. Because even if our time isn't up quite yet, it is a much better feeling to be sure of our salvation than to be in panic mode. But, just like my kiddos, we don't get to quit working once we are saved ... We keep working and studying to become better Christians. If we stop and Gert stangnat, well, we may find ourselves needing to be back in panic mode again.

I'd love to tell you "Don't worry, give it a chance, we have plenty of time" ... But I won't because I can't promise you that we do.

I'd love to tell you "its time to kick it into high gear! The end is coming up soon" ... But I won't, because I can't measure for you how soon it will be.

So instead, I'm telling you this ... If you arent ready to face Him in judgment. If you aren't SURE of your salvation. If you've never been saved. If you need to make some adjustments. If, if, if .... Then its time to panic. Not panic like flail around and cry - panic like fix the problem NOW.

Its amazing what a 9 year old can do when you tell them its time to panic with AR - they are suddenly a super reader who reads in every free moment at school and takes books home to read, too, all to reach their goal and get themselves ready. They panic - make the necessary changes to their effort level - and they get it done.

How much more important is your soul than a simple reading goal? How much more worth being ready for is our spiritual end of time than the end of a schoool quarter?

So panic. Make the necessary changes. And get yourself ready today.