Springtime is recruiting season for the Boy Scouts. Each February and March, Cub Scout dens that are ready to cross over and join the Boy Scouts will visit various Scout troops to check out their programmes, see how the troops … Read more
One of my favourite "western" movies is John Ford's "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". There is a scene in which the grizzled, soon-to-be-retired cavalry Captain Nathan Briddles, played by John Wayne, rides into the hostile Indian camp in an effort … Read more
(with acknowledgement to Mary Daniel, who wrote My Little Red Wagon for June 24, 2000 ) When I was a young boy growing up in the 'fifties, I led a life with a degree of freedom that my son, … Read more
When my son was younger and it was his turn to say grace, he would invariably use the same one: "Dear God, thank you for this food and a beautiful day." Week in, week out, regardless of the weather, the … Read more
When, a few months ago, I wrote Signs of the Season , which was published as the Daily devotional for November 29, 1999, I thought it would just be a nice Christmas-time devotional illustrating the pleasure that small random … Read more
Shortly after we were married, my wife matter-of-factly announced that she intended to give 10{8395b6ce96fcf25a14d80edc3b65c36a8995b6c1ba5f8c16ac11d8adaa79f35b} of her salary to the church. My first reaction was "Whoa, let's not be too hasty about this!" After all, we had just bought a … Read more
Each spring and fall, I help teach the Scoutmaster's Fundamentals course in our local Scout District. The course involves a Saturday indoor session and a weekend campout. A fair amount of effort is required before the actual sessions to make … Read more
For me, the Christmas season officially begins with the appearance of a box of candy canes in the passenger's seat of my car, usually the Monday after Thanksgiving. My wife puts them there for me to give to the tollbooth … Read more
One of the surest signs that we are growing older, or growing up, as my father would say, appears when we start sounding like our parents. We find ourselves not only making the same points that they made to us, … Read more
The highest rank a boy can achieve in Scouting (in the United States) is that of Eagle and it is estimated that less than 4{8395b6ce96fcf25a14d80edc3b65c36a8995b6c1ba5f8c16ac11d8adaa79f35b} of all the boys who start in Scouting will become Eagle Scouts. In order to … Read more