Letting Go

On Monday, Sept. 5 we left our son, Ryan with another family in Lindsay, Ontario, to board there as he attends Fleming College. An  acquaintance of ours did some inquiries in her church and found a family whose son had just moved to Calgary, and who have a lot of empty rooms in the house. Ryan could even share meals with them. The room is absolutely perfect: roomy, a desk at a window facing east, walk in closet, receptacles in the right places, a fine bed, everything he needs.  He has been planning this for over a year and we have been planning with him, and yet we looked on this event with much apprehension.  It is natural for parents to try to make paths easy for their children and when there are many uncertainties it can be difficult to continue.

We had many worries. When living in dorms on campus, peer pressure can be negative and difficult to resist.  The other option was living off campus and six km away from the campus in a town we knew little about, and  we wondered how he would travel to and from the campus. Cars are expensive to insure. Are bicycles safe? All winter? His place of board is close to a bicycle trail that winds through Lindsay and can bring him straight to the college.

Ryan and I spent three hours on Saturday checking out the beautiful bicycle trails and the best routes for biking from his place of board to the campus.

Are there buses? We had not seen any evidence of Lindsay being serviced by buses, but when we explored over the weekend with our bicycles we saw bus stop signs at nearly every street corner.
The church we attended on Sunday couldn't have been more welcoming, even praying for us in the evening service. We enjoyed the services on Sunday and heard a very good message from Psalm 23 about God's love and care for us.  The new youth pastor is staying in the same home as Ryan as well.

It has been three weeks now since we dropped Ryan off  and we are confident that he will get along well in Lindsay. He has been back for one weekend and we have had encouraging emails from him. We need to practice living out Philippians 4:6 " Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." We need to  trust  God that He  will make all things well, trust Him before the outcome actually happens.