Don't Take Anything for Granted

Yesterday morning, while enjoying the early morning sunshine from my patio, I heard the tack-tack-tack of a power nailer across the way. New homes are going up, I thought, and a roofer is already hard at work. Tack-tack-tack. He was moving fast. Suddenly, there was a scream. The nailing stopped.

I imagined what must have happened. The roofer put a tack through his foot, or maybe his hand. I did my morning exercises, and kept listening. No more sounds. No emergency vehicle. No cars or trucks driving out of the area. Maybe my assumption was wrong. Perhaps there was another explanation for what I heard.

Imagination drives assumptions. On the basis of available evidence, we fill in the blanks with our imagination, and voila! We have an explanation. Or do we? All of us make assumptions. As a Pastor, I made plenty of them. It was embarrassing. Scientists make assumptions, especially in regard to origins. This week, politicians are telling us that 700 billion dollars will “rescue” America’s economy. Now, there’s an assumption if I ever heard one. If I learned anything in 40 years of ministry, it is Don’t Take Anything for Granted.

That’s the motivation behind a trip we are taking tomorrow. Loreen and I are flying from Tucson to Los Angeles, renting a car, and driving to Seal Beach, California. At nine o’clock on Saturday morning, I will join a group of ordained ministers to examine a candidate for ministry as an Army Chaplain.

I have met the candidate. He is an officer in the Army Reserve. I read his pre-exam application. I liked his answers. But that isn’t enough. Our imagination can create assumptions. So, we are going to sit together and have free-ranging discussions about his call to ministry. We will ask questions about his beliefs. We want to be sure. None of us should take anything for granted.

We expect the candidate to do well in this examination. If there were any doubt about that, I wouldn’t invest the time and money to make this trip. But that’s an assumption. Our task is to reduce the number of assumptions on which we depend before approving people for ministry.

On Monday morning, I expect to be on my patio again. I look forward to soaking up the rays of the morning sun. That’s an assumption. It’s based on sound evidence, but I am governed by a higher rule. Don’t Take Anything for Granted.

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 it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)