Keller Blue, you are about to set off on a great adventure, and if so desire, a great mission. You will be attending the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in the fall and getting ready to depart the comfort and protection of your family.

But the promise of Jesus is he will never leave you nor forsake you. I encourage you to step back and get a bigger picture for what you’re about to embark on. It’s not just four years of college. You’re not just going to learn. It can be that, but it can also be bigger.

You’re going to influence.
You’re going with a purpose. You’re going to the mission.

May he equip you with all you need for doing his will. Include God in everything you do. You may be under the idea that your good looks or your popularity or your brains or your hard work and determination got you to where you are today, but they are gifts that God has given you. Do not forget the gift giver as you explore these new worlds.

Keller, make the decision now to honor God in your words and actions. The decision that you make now will influence how you behave and how you act when you get to campus and you’re surrounded by people who have no concept and no Love of God and no desire to follow.

Remember the Sabbath, for it is holy, blessed and set apart. It is a sign between you and Jesus of the promise of what he will do in you.

Remember that God is your true educator and leader. Wherever you go there’s no greater professor, no greater mentor than Jesus Christ.

If by chance, or by choice, you loose your way and become separated from God and awaken to your danger, do not hesitate to turn back to Christ who desires to be in your presence at all times because he loves you that much.

Now, I have recorded 251 intimate stories about your childhood in my Note Everything App on my cell phone. I would like to share two of my favorite stories appropriate for this moment in time.

First, when I was 7 months pregnant with you, I was baptized into the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Atlanta North. The experience was emotional and I should write more about it, something along the lines of 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body”

Secondly, when you were 7 years old, I asked you to name something you were grateful to God for. You said, “The story daddy told me last night where a man walked and prayed with God and then went to heaven (Enoch). It changed my heart.”