I wasn’t surprised when Victoria didn’t answer the phone, but I was a little curious when she returned my call a few minutes later.

“You sound like you’re in a tunnel,” I said.

“I’m under the stairway. Just walked out of night class.”

“I forgot that you have class on Tuesday nights.”

“Me, too!” said my college junior. “I keep forgetting about it and I don’t have a good feeling about tonight’s class. We’re on the third slide and I’m just not getting into it.”

“Just get back into class before the fourth slide!”

At that point, I forgot why I had called her in the first place. I thought about setting an alarm on my phone to remind her about her class each week, but quickly dismissed the thought. She knows which classes she can afford to drop and which she has to keep in order to earn her degree in Psychology and English next year.

I decided to let her figure it out.

Apparently Victoria opted to remain in her Tuesday night class for she recently called while studying for a test in that class. “Are you and Dad worried that you won’t get a good return on your investment?”

I was puzzled. “What investment?”

“The one you’re making in my college education.”

“It depends on your definition of a ‘good return.’ God carefully put you together and placed specific gifts and talents inside of you. He created you with purpose. Find your passion, the purpose for which you were put on this earth, and run with it, leaving a positive and lasting effect on others. That’s the only return I want.”

The Holman Christian Standard Bible version of Psalm 138:8 reads, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.”

May we pray and trust that God will do that for all of the lives in which we invest.

Ronny Michel may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.