Scoutmaster's Minute
Alan Houser (troop24@EMF.NET)
Tue, 9 Jan 1996 23:54:32 -0800
Found this story this evening & thought it might work as a Scoutmaster's
minute:
There is an old story of the missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh. He was
traveling through the Himalayas with a Monk in the bitter cold. Night
was coming and the Monk said, "If we don't reach the monastery by nightfall,
we are in danger of freezing to death." Just as they reached a narrow path,
they heard the cries of a man who had fallen over the edge. The Monk said,
"Do not stop. God has brought him to his fate. He must work it out himself."
Sadhu replied, "God sent me here to help my brother. I cannot abandon him."
The Monk went on and Sadhu climbed down a steep path. When he found the
man, he saw that his leg was broken and he could not walk. Sadhu made a
sling from his blanket and tied the man to his back. He then began a body
torturing climb. He made his way through the deepening snow. It was dark
and it was all he could do to follow the path. He perserved, and faint
with exhaustion, he finally saw the lights of the Monastery. As he moved
toward the light, he stumbled for the first time and nearly fell. He did
not stumble from exhaustion, but over an object. As he brushed the snow
off the object, he looked down and saw that it was the body of the Monk.
Years later when a student asked him, "What is life's most difficult task?"
he replied, "To have no burden to carry."
===
Alan R. Houser ** Scoutmaster, Berkeley Troop 24 ** troop24@emf.net
** WWW page ** http://www.emf.net/~troop24/t24.html **
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
