Presumptuous planning

In my Introduction to Preaching class at Bethel Seminary, each student had to present a 20-minute sermon on a passage from the book of James.  My passage was James 4:13-17.  Here is a paragraph in my message in which I set up the first century presumptuous planners in a 21st century context:

James is eavesdropping on the boardroom discussion of these Fortune 500 CEOs as they are planning their next big expansion project: “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Notice all the proactive verbs here: go, spend, do business, make money.  These are people who know what they want, and they have figured out how to get there.  We want these go-getters managing our investment portfolios! In today’s world we would call them successful, assertive, forward looking self-starters, maybe even visionaries. Isn’t this what every parent wants for his children’s future?