Where did the Summer go?!

I realize there are still 4 weeks before school starts back up here in G-town but it cannot be denied that summer is quickly coming to a close...and my what a fast summer it has been.  It only seems days ago that I was watching the Seniors walk across the stage at graduation and now I am getting ready to watch them head off to college, a proposition I am not very excited about. As with any youth pastor, I worry that I have not done enough to prepare the Seniors for the college experience. I'm not talking about making time to study or not skipping class, both of which are good ideas by the way, rather I'm talking about preparing them for the onslaught that is modern liberal atheism or agnosticism that is rampant in college setting across the country.  It's easy to be a follower of Jesus when your biggest persecution is getting on the wrong end of a practical joke at youth group, but what happens when your professors and classmates really do persecute you for professing your faith and living it out?  Are my students prepared to handle that sort of criticism and abuse?

For their sake I hope I am over exaggerating my concern, but in all honesty I don't think that I am.  I pray earnestly for their strength and endurance and that they will get plugged in with a local church wherever they attend school.  Please pray for them as well.  It is also my hope that when they come home to visit over the holidays and summer that they will find themselves welcomed back by our church body.  College is a time of transitions, I pray that they do not transition away from God.