There were only a few days left of my first Boy Scout summer camp. Only one chance was left for me to finish out my requirements for the swimming and lifesaving merit badges. If I did not complete them, I would not make Eagle Scout. I had gone down to the dock earlier in the week watching the other guys try to complete the requirements in maybe 40+ degree water. Over and over again, I watched the blue bodies get out of the water, race into blankets and glue themselves to a fire for hours. Only a hand full made the full one mile swim and completed the tactics that day, out of the many who tried. The longer I watched, the more I thought about my many years of swimming at the beach in Florida. However, this was NOT Florida – this was Alaska! And, the water was just too cold.

When the last call was made, I found myself on the dock knowing the next few hours would be grueling and above all painful. I was relating it to the pain I had felt from acute gastroenteritis I had been hospitalized for several months before. After jumping in and being gripped by my icy surroundings I heard someone call my name. It was Johnny, my red haired tent mate, standing up and waiving the oar of an escort boat. He had decided to follow me through the lake course in case I got tired or froze up! He never stopped talking to me, coaching me all the way. It was over before I knew it, because a friend was there by my side. We stood together soon thereafter, as Eagle Scouts, after he initiated me into the “Order of the Arrow.” I will never forget those events or Johnny’s role in helping me achieve some of my first successes. His dad was transferred a few months later and I never saw him again.

Over the years, I have thought about Johnny and people like him. They are those who have the capacity to help another and truly celebrate in their success. Although I have tried to locate him, I have had no luck. He remains indelibly etched into my memory, but somehow just out of reach. He reminds me of Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Christ was compared to him as the “High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” in Hebrews, quoting from Psalm 110. We don’t know much about him, except he was the right person at the right time for Abraham and he provided a path for worship to God. He gave Abraham a gift that Abraham could not have received from anyone else. He enriched Abraham’s life.

It’s sad that when you are 12 years old you cannot see with the eyes of maturity what another is doing in your life. However, I think God designs things to happen that way – saving rewards for those worthy, so the rewards are not squandered here on earth. Kids, you’ve all had people like that add to and enrich your life. The question I have for you, is have you done that for someone else? Have you been a Johnny for someone else? Who will be able, one day, to think back and wonder where you are and offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for what you added to their lives? Small investments pay big dividends, especially if they are eternal dividends.

Love Dad