Many of you are members of a large, organized religion. You might be Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Jewish, or any one of a number of others. As you know, part of being a Boy Scout is having a belief in God. Every time you repeat the Scout Oath or Law, you reconfirm that you will do your duty to God, and that you are reverent. Keep in mind that some members of your patrol and troop might not belong to a regular church group. That doesn’t mean they don’t believe in a higher power. Native Americans believe that the Great Spirit is the life force that flows through all living things and controls the wind, fire, and the Earth. You might think of the Great Spirit as Mother Nature. Nature has created a world for its creatures that allows them to live and prosper, from the lowest insects to the mighty eagle. To me, that sounds like a higher power at work. It doesn’t matter to me how you believe in God— whether you attend church every week or simply respect the power of nature as the Native Americans do. But I can’t imagine how this world could have come to exist without God, and I don’t want to think about where it will go if he isn’t there to guide us.
