I have here a map and a compass. With these tools and a little knowledge, I can find my way anywhere in Madison County. (Substitute your locality)
I’m not bragging. Many of my fellow leaders have followed me right past the turn we were supposed to take to get to camp, but we eventually get there. A compass helps us to orient the map and find our bearings while the map identifies landmarks that we can recognize and measure.
Our church sponsors a program through Christian Education that teaches young men how to use a map and compass to find their way – Boy Scouts. In fact, Scouting teaches a more important type of map reading. You see, a map is like our Scout Law: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. (I recited the Law and Oath because a lot of our church members do not know them.)
The compass is like 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.
We use the map (the Scout Law) as a guide for our lives and the compass (the Scout Oath) to keep ourselves oriented. I like Boy Scouts because it is one program that requires the adult leaders to take the same oath and live by the same law that the Scouts do, and you know, if a young man lives up to the Scout Oath and Scout Law, he is bound to be a pretty good person. Thanks for sponsoring our Troop.
Submitter:
It helps to have a map and compass as a visual aide. I used this at Scout Sunday one year.