James 4:13-17

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money". Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord's will, we will live and do this and that". As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

We found out yesterday that one of our fellow workers in Kandahar was kiiled on Christmas Day at 7:00 pm. While sitting at his desk a rocket hit just outside his office causeing severe injuries which he later died from. He either did not hear the alarm or ignored it, in any event the results were tragic. This brings hom ethe reality of what we are all involved here in Afghanistan, war!

When I came to Afghanistan I signed up for a one year contract. I would be paid a tremendous amount of money for that one year. Enough money in fact that we can save a good portion of it and I will be able to take next year off from full time work and be able to concentrate on my studies and hopefully get my Graduate Certificate completed. This was great motivation and as we had prayed Gods will for our lives I feel as if this path is the path that I should be on.

As I read James this morning and the quoted section in paticular of course it stuck me as to the similarity to what I am doing here in Afghanistan. "tomorrow go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." So like any other person would I thought about this. I thought about the purpose for me being here. With out a doubt part of it is to carry on business and make money. Is this ok, I thought?

"You don't even know what will happen tomorrow" the next line reads. I don't! You don't! Nobody does except God. The man that was killed on Christmas didn't either. His hopes were probably very similar to most. To spend a year and make money. Then in an instant that changed. "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." So I don't know any better than the next guy what will happen tomorrow.

So does this mean that I should pack it in and not have any plans of my own. Should I take this verse at face value and think that what I see coming out of this year doesn't matter and that what I am doing is wrong. Absolutely not. "Instead you ought to say, If the Lord's will, we will live and do this and that." This is where our hearts come into play, our motivation and our faith. this is where the Spirit dwells and guides us through each day. If we, I can truly say that it is the Lord's will that I am here, then I will live with that faith of Gods will in whatever I do.

Some will say that we should not make plans of our own. That I should not think ahead to the future as that is making plans for God, don't make plans for God. But this is different, you can have plans as long as you give them to God and make them useful for Him and not just yourself. "As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil." We can not do these things for ourselves and when we think that we are then we sit in the shadow of eveil. We fall into the trap of forgetting about God because of our pride.

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." This is where, in all of our work, we make a choice as to why we do it. If we are to have individual gain based on own pride. If we are to look to profit only in worldly ways. If we only think of ourselves as we "carry on business and make money" then we have forgotten God and we are doing the wrong thing. We are sinning.

Our purpose in all that we do is to realize that we are here to serve God. to be obediant to Him and to follow Jesus Christ on a daily basis. That as we work and make money, that our hearts are set on that Glory for which we can bring God with our work. That in our plans we always keep in mind that we are simply living our lives for Him. That He allows us to experience this world. That He wants us to live and be happy. that ulimately all things are His, and His plans reign supreme and that he makes the final descisions on everything.

I will spend my year here trying to glorify Him as much as I possibly can. I will take the profit that comes from my labor and seek to use it to Glorify Him more completely in the future. I will lay my plans and ernestly seek to give them to Him. I will know that at anytime He may seek to use me or my life in a tottaly different way. That in an instant it could all end as the mist as the sun rises. And in the end, I can hopefully say that I did what I ought to do and did not sin by boasting in myself.

Lord, watch over me as I work here in Afghanistan. Give my heart rest and my family rest that you are in control of everything. Allow my heart to always be seeking to Glorify you in all that I do and wherever I may be. Amen.