Friday, February 15, 2008

How Will They Know Series

 

Psalm 23:4 “Fear no evil, for you are with me.”  

 

Scrub Cows In the Dark

 

Sometimes we find ourselves afraid of facing a fearful situation and when we do we find that we are not the only one afraid.   Always remember God is greater than our fears. 

 

It was many long years ago.  I was 20 years old and working at a Boy Scout camp in South Florida.   The camp was hundreds of acres and we had 500 boys every week.  There was a huge loop that had patrol areas in it and I was the commissioner living in the middle of the loop with my two counselors-in-training.   The camp was an interesting place.  One of the most memorable things about it was that there were scrub cows with big horns.  These cows wondered through the camp and ate much of the vegetation.   

 

The campers came from Miami and I met boys with a completely different value system.  The first week of camp the Scoutmaster closest to me was named Mr. Mullholland. I didn’t know it then, but Mr. Mullholland was a raging alcoholic.  His scout troop was actually not a scout troop at all.  None of the boys had ever been scouts or knew anything about Boy Scouts.   A Kiwanis organization had sponsored a group of boys from the Miami inner city to experience a week of scouting at Camp Lone Oak in hopes it would change their lives.

 

This Boy Scout troop was divided into two ethnic groups.  Both groups hated each other.   Both groups had never been out of the inner city of Miami.   Both groups were tall and scary looking to me.   I looked like I was twelve and weighed, maybe, 130 pounds on my 5’8’’ frame.   The second night of camp the boys were in their campsite screaming and cursing at each other.   I was lying on my bunk in a tent in my underwear exhausted and hoping they would be quiet and go to sleep.   The next thing I knew, this hostile group who hated each other were standing at the door of my tent saying they couldn’t find Mr. Mullholland.   I put on my boots, sent ten of the boys back to their camp and kept with me the largest two and decided that we would go find Mr. Mullholland.  

 

We walked out on the road when a very odd thing happened.  One boy, who towered over me, grabbed hold of one side of my underwear and moved very close.   I took another step when the other boy grabbed the other side of my underwear and moved very close.  At first I thought I would just ignore the whole thing. About three steps later I said, “Would you please let go of my underwear!”  Both boys said no they would not.  I asked, “Why?”   And they much to my relief said, “We are scared of the cows.”   I told them to let go of my underwear and we would figure this out.   In the end we decided that we would hold hands until we found Mr. Mullholland, who unfortunately was passed out drunk by the pool house.  

 

Mr. Mullholland was sent home.  I spent the rest of my week with his campers.  And it was a great week!   We all learned how to conquer fear and maybe prejudice.  

 

Prayer:

Dear God, help us not to be afraid.   Amen.