Tonight you spent time sharpening your compass skills.  For Scouts on a hike or canoe trip, a compass is an important tool.  Because it can give you a stable reference point—magnetic north—you can set a course and follow it to your journey's end.  As long as your compass is properly oriented and accurate, it will serve you well and faithfully.

Our faith, and the Scout Oath and Law—our spirituality—are something like that.  They give us a stable point of reference that does not change.  They are our compasses.  But like any good tool, we must continue to practice using them to become proficient in their use and deepen our understanding of their application to our daily existence.

We can use our spiritual compass to guide us through this grand journey we call life.  If we follow the principles of our faith and the Scout Oath and Law, our spiritual compass will guide us through the joys and temptations of life.  We can use it to show us how not to stray from the straight and proper path.  We can use it to guide us in our friendships, in our work, in what we say to people and about people, and in how we treat them and the world we live in.  Our spiritual compass is a very valuable tool indeed!

As you travel home this evening, ask yourself, "How is my spiritual compass oriented?"

Good night, gentlemen.