Heavenly Father, You are the God who made heaven and earth. You are the God of all help (Ps. 121:2) and all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3). You are the God who keeps, guards, and protects (Ps. 121:3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8). You are the God who neither sleeps nor slumbers (Ps. 121:4). We ask you, O God, to help, comfort, keep, guard, and protect Thibodeaux as he goes off to college.

Keep Thibodeaux from all evil and so keep his life. Whether he is going out to public activities or arriving home for private ones; whether he is beginning something or ending something, may you, O Lord keep him (Ps. 121:7).

Give Thibodeaux a godly ambition, a hunger for meaning and purpose, and a corresponding vision of how to proceed in constructing a life that matches. When he realizes the kind of intentional effort and time that building a meaningful life takes, help him not to default to an easier way. Help him to take the trouble to cultivate the desires, dreams, and ambitions you have given him. Help Thibodeaux seize the chances you give him rather than become like the one who lets every opportunity slip by and then, in hasty simplification, blames God’s providence for his plight.

Train him to find the company of slothful people dull. Let him learn to earn what he has and find satisfaction in earning his success (Ps. 7:15). When he is at work, help him not to stop working so he can make a pious show of talking about religion, thus robbing his boss of time paid. Rather, help his true and sincere faith be demonstrated through honesty and hard work.

Give Thibodeaux Christian friends. But more than that, give him a faithful church that worships you with reverence and awe (Heb. 12:28) rather than slick lighting, fog machines, and the cult of personal preference. You, Lord, are a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). Provide a church that is not just an aid in an individualistic faith project; not just a distant and cruel regulatory body, but a place of worship, people, place, and tradition. A place where forgiveness is learned, as is wisdom, community, and discipline when needed.

Prepare Thibodeaux for marriage and provide him with a godly wife, one who will submit to her husband and despise the dogma of Judith Butler. Prepare Thibodeaux’s heart to love his future wife sacrificially and provide for her spiritually and physically (Eph. 5:28f). Since wives are told to respect their husbands (Eph. 5:33) and submit to them (Eph. 5:22-25), make Thibodeaux a respectable man who thinks video games are boring and laughs at the time-waste of social media. Give Thibodeaux wisdom to see which technology is helpful and which doesn’t fulfill the promise of saving time. Help Thibodeaux to seek the counsel of others (Prov. 11:14), keep good company (Prov. 13:20), work hard (Prov. 6:6), pursue knowledge (Prov. 2:1-5), guard his tongue (Prov. 4:24), and respect the Word of God (Ps. 119:9) as he prepares to earn the respect of his future wife.

Give Thibodeaux patience and the willingness to dwell gladly in the present. Give him patience professionally, relationally, financially, and sexually. Help him to learn that sex is regulated because it is sacred and that biblical ethics come from God, who is an expert in pleasure (Ps. 16:11).

Help Thibodeaux pursue the peace of Christ (Micah 4:3-4) rather than waste time acting big in internet debates. May he be a peacemaker (Mt. 5:9) rather than stir up division (Titus 3:10). Establish in Thibodeaux a moral framework that stands up to bullies, lives not by lies, and speaks the simple words of truth when the people around him are insane. Help him to see that generosity doesn’t begin when he earns big money, but that even as a poor college student he can give material and spiritual gifts that are deeply beneficial.

Train Thibodeaux’s heart to be content in all circumstances (Phil. 4:13) and find the bright side in all things because there is a good God everywhere. Whatever hardship comes, even the rod, is worth having because it comes from God, who is love. As Thibodeaux reads the Bible, teach him about God’s sovereignty, not just so he can win arguments against Arminians but so he can submit himself to the providence of God.

Thank you for the time I’ve had with Thibodeaux as he grew up. It is your good grace that he has believed the gospel since the day he heard about it right up to the present. Thank you that Thibodeaux is now ready to be salt and light in partnership in the gospel. You started a great work in Thibodeaux. Would you now keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish at the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:3-6)?

We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.