Sunny Days are Here Again

I am the leader of my son's Cub Scout Pack. Cub Scouts is a group for boys in first through fifth grades where they basically learn to be young men. They learn all type of things from citizenship to physical agility and from conservation to woodworking. Our "pack" has about 40 boys in it.

Last April we went on a family camp out. Looking at the forecast we were either going to have bad thunderstorms or the thunderstorms would totally miss us. Instead of canceling, we went out and just kept an eye on the weather. The forecase scared a lot of families away though and we didn't get much of a turnout. I think we started out with seven boys showing up. We got some rain for about an hour and the boys started dropping like flies. To make matter's worse, because of the rain we couldn't do any of our activities. I think by the next morning, there were two boys left--mine and one other.

I was really frustrated. The camp out was a total bust. Poor attendance and bad weather along with little sleep made for a really grumpy Cubmaster. The one silver lining was that Max said he had a good time.

This weekend we had our fall family camp out. Things were starting to look bad. The pack camping coordinator quit his position just weeks before the camp out and I was having difficulty finding someone to take his spot. We didn't even have reservations at the camp site!

But the weekend finally came and we had gorgeous weather. I found someone to help me move equipment to the camp site and to cook. We got things set up and people started showing up right on time. Several hours later and we were still had families showing up. We had supper followed by a nature hike with a campfire filled with songs and skits to complete the night. It got a little cool but the nice weather stayed and I slept wonderfully nestled up in my sleeping bag.

Sunday morning I was in a great mood! We had a great turnout. Beautiful weather and most importantly--all the boys had fun.

In comparing the two camp outs, I'm reminded that just as nature needs rain and inclimate weather we can grow from rainy days too. Some days God gives us rainy days. it might be a light shower or it might be a horrible thunderstorm but never anything worse than what we can handle. But he will always give us sunny days too---days when everything is wonderful and nothing in the world can take you down.

I'm sure that some may think I have lost it. I realize that there are people out there who can't seem to catch a break and are always down on their luck. Well, if you can excuse the horrible pun--the trick is that when the skies are dark and forbidding to look for the Son. The Son will always be there ready to lead us away from the thunder and lightning of everyday life. As long as you have faith and follow God's will things will be okay.

Don't get depressed. Don't have doubt. It's what Satan wants you to do. Keep your eyes towards the Heavens. Keep looking for the Son. He is there.