As I stated on the first page, I started as a very green Royal Ranger Commander in a brand new program. The Lord taught me the value of this program very early in my career as a commander and I feel HE wants it shared with you all.

God’s Blessing are great, especially in our weakness. I started this program by approaching the church’s Sunday school classes and explaining the program to the boys there. This started the core group of Royal Rangers (Buck-A-Roos) that met the following Wednesday night for it’s first meeting. About five boys attended. These great kids were excited about the program and I was too.

Several weeks of meetings went by and I started hearing complaints from the boys being excluded because they "were too old". I went back to my Pastor and explained what was transpiring and he smiled and told me that the Lord had told him who the new Buck- A - Roos Commander would be. (He had sat in a meeting already) Thus the Pioneer (ages 9 - 11) outpost came into being and I was the commander.

One of my Buck - A - Roos went and told his older brother that now he could join the Royal Rangers, too. His brother had never been to the church or Sunday school, but the idea of scouting appealed to him, so he came to a meeting. He got excited, too. One of the requirements for earning his first badge was to attend church or Sunday school. Since, his family didn’t have a church home and since younger brother had the same requirement for earning his badge, they both started attending Sunday school at our church. Their sister also got involved with the Sunday school program and later joined the Missionettes program when it was started at our church.

One of the requirements for Royal Ranger and Sunday school teachers at our church was home visitation. That meant that they were required to go out to the children’s home and meet with the parents and explain the program to them. I went out to the boy’s house (and later their Sunday school teacher did visit, also) On my first visit, the boy’s mother listened patiently as I explained the program; the father disappeared into the next room and wasn’t seen again. They were a very poor family and were not used to church visitors and were not ease. I left there praying that somehow the visit was not in vain. There were needs there that only God knew and could meet.

The boys continued to come to Royal Rangers and nothing more was said about the visit. I put it out of my mind and got busy running the outposts. Soon a Trailblazer unit was formed and I was its commander. I left the older brother to a new commander.

Mean while the Sunday school was having a promotion, Mom’s Day: A day when the kid’s would invite their mom to church. These kids invited their mom to church, unknown to me. She came and accepted the Lord as her Savior that Sunday! All three kids had already done so in Royal Rangers and in Sunday school. Now mom was saved too. The boy’s shared this with me and we rejoiced together.

The kid’s dad on the other hand, was bitter that his family had turned against him. He wanted nothing to do with this "church stuff". Several times, church people tried to talk with him, but he rejected them and demanded that they leave his house. The family went through a very hard time. Mom and the kids trying to live as Christians in a divided house.

Time passed, and I forgot about that issue. I was busy and I felt there was little I could do. One day, I heard through the grapevine that the dad was very ill. He had cancer and was dying. My heart went out to the kids. It really was sad that they were losing their dad at such a young age. I didn’t know it at the time, but a Sunday school teacher was lead to try to home visit them. (I had stopped trying) They went to visit the mom and kids, but while there they got the God given opportunity to speak with the dad, who was in bed. The dad’s heart was open and he accepted the Lord, right where he was. The teacher came back and told me about the incident. It was amazing, when you realize how hard he had been to the Gospel message. Now he was a Christian too. The whole family was. The next Sunday, it was announced from the pulpit that he had passed away the very next day.

All this because one boy wanted to go scouting! Is it worth it? You decide.....

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