A very good friend of mine is brilliant with stocks and shares. He and his firm have won the Raging Bull Award in South Africa for several years in a row. The award is given to the best fund managers every year, and you really need to know what you’re doing to be eligible, let alone win!

With awe-inspiring models (which are incomprehensible to me), they invest their customers’ money to work better for the customer. Because my friend really cares about his clients’ money, he often experiences a lot of stress.

Even though they’re one of the leaders in the equity field in the country and indeed in the world, their calculations don’t always work out. Something happens that they didn’t see coming at all, and the shares go south.

I also have a small success story. I have a few dollars in my PayPal account for some products we’ve delivered to people overseas. I decide to leave it there and see what the rand does. If the rand weakens, I’ll make some money.

However, I know that if the money decreases, my loved one will not love me as much. So, I make sure that Head Office, that’s Renata, also buys into the idea. I tell her exactly what I’m going to do. I also explain exactly what will happen if the rand strengthens, and our money will be less.

Every day I keep a close eye on the rand-dollar exchange, and every so often, the rand falls. I set a maximum rand value and tell Renata that if the rand falls to that, I will sell. So, that’s what I did, selling when the rand broke through the R16,00 level.

I, no, we got 15% more money in two months when it landed in our bank account. We were so happy, and my wife thought I was a boss investor. She asked tongue-in-cheek if I didn’t want to work for my friend.

I know all too well that it could have been the opposite. I could’ve had 15% less money if I had tried it just a few months later because the rand had strengthened again against the dollar by then.

No matter how hard we try, no matter how well we model, and how well we understand yesterday and today, we don’t really know what might happen tomorrow. We can’t see around the corner. We can predict, but there is always a chance that things could look very different.

James comes straight out and asks: ¹⁴You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. ¹⁵Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”

God alone knows. Only He can see what will happen tomorrow. Let’s take this advice and allow God to control us so that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, we arrive at the place where God saw us.

Scripture
James 4:14-15

Reflection
Does God control your life?
Do you work well with Him?
Do you show up every day where God saw you yesterday?

Prayer
Father, I now put my life in Your hands again. You are in control of life, including mine. Help me to do what You want to see happen in my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.