Near my friend Kelsey’s house, there are some abandoned train tracks. A few years back, we would walk down the tracks and have contests to see who could last the longest without running back toward the street. Since the tracks had not been used for some time, the vegetation around the tracks was thick. There was little or no light in the thick brush. The farther down the tracks you walked the darker it got. Gathering our courage, a group of us would begin to walk down the tracks. Each time, someone would scream for no reason, and the entire group would scramble back toward the light.

Though we had no reason to believe that there was anything terrible lurking in the darkness, we were still frightened—frightened by what could be there. As we walked down the tracks, a thousand thoughts raced through our minds. Most were completely illogical, but the fact that we had no idea what to expect scared us.  As we would walk farther and farther into the unknown, the fear grew stronger, so we ran back to what we were familiar with—the street.

The same is true in the larger sense. In high school, the possibilities that lay before us are endless. The colleges we can attend, the majors we can choose, the professions we can someday get in to. I know that I personally get freaked out thinking about my future. I have it so easy now, living with my parents. They provide me with everything I need and also a lot of the things I want. But in a few years, that’s all gone. I’m going to be on my own. Though the freedom is exciting, it’s also extremely frightening. How am I supposed to handle providing for myself?

I have no idea what lies ahead of me. I know what I’d like to happen, but there is no guarantee that my wants will be fulfilled. I will work my hardest, but ultimately what happens to me from the next 10 minutes to the next 10 years and beyond isn’t up to me.

I know that whatever happens to me is for my benefit. Even if I am a college student without money, attending my third-choice college, and living off of instant ramen, I trust that God knows what he’s doing with my life. When it comes right down to it, worrying about college and my future in general is completely pointless—like try-ing to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. God already knows what he wants for me, and he knows what I will end up doing even if I don’t know. And that’s a good thing. Because if we are completely in charge of our futures, we will all end up in pretty bad shape. God is so much smarter than we can ever imagine. He knows what’s best, and he’s got it under control. So we don’t need to worry about anything that lies ahead, as long as we trust that God has our best interest at heart.