We are in the midst of probably the hottest week of the summer. Yet, I ask you to fast-forward your brain to Fall. In just a few weeks, the days will be a little shorter and the nights a little cooler. In a few weeks, the cream of this year’s high school crop will be going to college. I am nostalgic enough to not only remember those days but also remember the excitement and anticipation of being back at school. There were dozens of classmates to see and get caught up with. There was a new schedule of classes (well, not all things were pleasant!); there was a new college football schedule to anticipate. And then there were the freshmen. I realize that all college students were once freshmen, but once you got beyond that year, there was a certain sense of satisfaction at looking down the end of your proboscis a little in their direction! All in all, I loved going back to college…even seminary. In most every way, you got to start all over again. As a student, it was like having two January firsts. Then there’s the parental side of this picture. Emotions can run a little raw for first time college parents. You think you’ve prepared them and you for this moment, but no amount of grandiose groundwork is really sufficient. For the most part your kids can hardly wait to bolt from their parent’s presence to start their new life and meet new friends. On the other hand, mom and dad are left to suck it up, drive away quietly and have at least one day of subdued conduct. That lasts until the first phone call or college tuition payment arrives. For Christian parents, the reality and the challenge of Proverbs 22:6 (Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.) play over and over in their heads. Did we? Was there anything we forgot to do? Will he/she remember, I mean really remember, all the things we taught him/her when the time of testing comes? Was there something we left out? What could we have done better? It’s at this time that another word from Solomon needs to be remembered: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (3:5, 6) It’s time to let them go! It’s time to trust another Parent.