Last Friday, I graduated. After a two and half year sprint to the finish, I finally walked across the stage to receive my degree. After which, a celebration with friends and family ensued. Amidst all the fun, excitement, sadness, and recollection of memories, a question continued to arise: Now what? To which I answered: I don’t know.

Truly, I do not know what is next for my wife and me, but as I ponder and pray for the Lord’s will to be done, I am reminded of a few verses from the book of James. He writes,

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

As I reflect on these verses in James, my answer to the question posed by my family and friends must not only be I don’t know, but also I will do whatever the Lord wills. Since I do not know the Lord’s will, I now wait patiently in prayer asking the Lord to reveal His plan to me.

May we all cast our future on the Lord, seeking His will for our lives instead of our own, not seeking to take what is in the world for ourselves, but to serve others by attending to both their physical and spiritual needs.