Live with abandon

I am a planner.  Many would say that this is a good thing...until they mess with my schedule and literally watch me turn to Rainman in front of them.  If I'm in a meeting that is scheduled to end at 4:30pm, at 4:31pm, I am no longer listening...I'm thinking about the schedule, the perpetualness of it, how it impacts other people's time, etc.  I AM NOT LISTENING anymore.  This has been somehting that I have struggled with my entire life.  In my teen years, I learned from my High School band director (best teacher I ever had, Thanks Mr. C) the slogan "If you're early you're on time, if you're on time, you're late, and if you're late there is NO EXCUSE".  This became my personal slogan, motto, etc.  Then, slowly, through many poor decisions on my part (like repremanding an employee for being late without knowing why they were late, only to find out that their grandmother had just died) I began to see that the world isn't always black and white...as a matter of fact, God made it that way...and He did so that we would learn from each other.  That brings me to tonight's verse:

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. (James 4:13, 14 ESV)

Plan all you want, but realize NONE of it is guaranteed.  Our time here is so short, the real question we must ask is "Am I doing the best thing I could be doing for the kingdom right now?"...and if the answer is "No", then reconsider what we are prioritizing.  One of the gentlemen I work with, routinely states that he "errors on the side of action".  I have come to believe that this is the correct response to following God.  When he says "go", we should go...and go NOW.  Bottom line, we/I need to be less plan oriented, and more following oriented.  After all, how can you go wrong following closely after Jesus.  Let Him be our guide...that is how we can most glorify Him, give up the stress of this mortal coil, and live our lives with abandon.