On my honor...

This afternoon I went to the Eagle Scout Ceremony for one of our students. Boy Scouts is HUGE here in Duncan and literally I have not met a man or boy who has not been involved in scouts at some point in his life. So, as you can imagine, scouting. is. next. to. godliness. I cannot emphasize the importance any more emphatically.

During this ceremony I heard the Scout Oath recited about 4 times and the Scout Law recited no less than thirty-seven times. This being my first scouting ceremony and pretty much the closest I've ever gotten to a practicing boy scout, I was intrigued by the words that were spoken. These are the virtues upheld by the Scout Law: TRUSTWORTHY, LOYAL, HELPFUL, FRIENDLY, COURTEOUS, KIND, OBEDIENT, CHEERFUL, THRIFTY, BRAVE, CLEAN, REVERENT. And this is the Scout Oath:

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

While I'm not sure if I think that Scouts are the best use of time, I do believe that these creeds in which they pledge sure do have good content. Whether or not all scouts uphold these promises, I think it's important to have a life motto. Even my Big Brother application asked what my life motto is! Growing up, my family's motto was "Remember who you are." I never found this more true than in my Christian walk. Wopsle and I are continuing to pray about what our family motto will be but for now we're going with "Show them Christ, not yourself." Scouts, who knew?!