President John F. Kennedy was assassinated the day before my 18th birthday. A few days ago we observed the 45th anniversary of that dark day in Dallas. Kennedy had less than 1,000 days to reign in "Camelot." As I have stated before - There was Camelot...and then there was not. Life has no guarantees of longevity. We are here one day and the next we can be gone - just like that. There are presidents and there are assassins.

James reminds us, "You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away...You ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that'" (James 4:14,15 NKJV). We can plan for tomorrow, but we do not even know if tomorrow will come, at least for us. We have no idea if the stock market will go up, down, or remain the same. That is why it is always good to preface our plans with the words "If the Lord wills" or simply "God willing." Kennedy never dreamed that Nov. 22, 1963 would be his last day of life on this earth. Nor do we in November of 2008, some 45 years later. I learned a little poem when I went to college in 1964. It went like this:

Life is short,
Death is sure;
Sin the curse,
Christ the cure.

Hymn: "I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day; I don't boorrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn to gray; I don't worry o'er the future, for I know what Jesus said, and today I'll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand; but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know Who holds my hand" (Ira Stanphill).