A few weeks ago the officers of Kappa Chi, our co-ed Christian service fraternity, had a planning retreat in a small town just east of Indianapolis. We took our Saturday afternoon Burger King and Taco Bell to a picturesque park where I spotted a little boy who looked to be about five years old. He was the spitting image of my son Tim as he looked eighteen years ago when he was five. A lot of water has passed over the dam in those years: Tim had grown a great deal and now towers over me. He is a cook at a local restaurant, so if you go there and have a good meal, tell me about it.

For me sometimes, a day in the park with little Timmy in some ways seems like only yesterday, but I know it's really been a long time -- long enough for him to grow into an independent adult. My guess is that as a…