The Aftermath of Scout Camp

 

The morning after tells little of the fear that six boy scouts felt as the winds ripped the military canvas tents from the ground and thunder shook the camp.

 

 

I grabbed a boy from beneath his fallen canvas tent and screamed “get in the truck, get in the truck”.  Boys were screaming in complete panic stricken fear, as the shear winds and driving rain all but carried them into the lake.

After all six soaking wet boy scouts where crammed into the cab of my small ford ranger I turned my attention to the troop camped next to us who were now trying to hide beneath a fallen piece of canvas.

I opened the back of my scout trailer and yelled for them to get in. The Rain and wind was so loud it all but drowned out my scream. I ran to where they where hiding and guided them to the trailer. Eight boy scouts and a young leader all crammed into the trailer and I joined my boys in the truck.

The wind howled and lightning pounded the camp. The truck shook suddenly and I feared the trailer had been toppled. I wiped the foggy windows and realized a tree had fallen just feet from the truck and trailer. A branch stretched over the truck and was resting on the tailgate.

It wasn't until morning that I realized how lucky we had been. What looked like a pile of dirt beneath the toppled tree was actually the bottom of a second tree that was ripped from the ground in the night.  The second tree was so close to the truck it pulled roots from beneath the tires.

I have never before heard boy scouts pray so fervently as they did that night. In the aftermath even the non-Christian scouts said it was nothing short of a miracle that brought us through that night alive.

In the light of day I found that my truck, although a branch from the fallen tree had been resting on the tailgate, was unscratched. These Boy Scouts have a new found conviction of the power of prayer.