Perhaps the greatest fear of any parent is that their child will rebel against God and run away from the love of God and family.
This world is full of prodigals. You meet them everyday. Perhaps many here today were once a prodigal.
As parents we want to believe that if we are sincere enough, if we try really, really hard, then we can somehow guarantee that our kids will turn out alright and love and serve God.
This is simply not true and denies free will. The Bible is full of prodigals, but scripture promises that God is faithful and there are things we can do.