“What did I just trip over?”

We love hearing those questions along with the screams, the giggles, the shouts of exclamation; for this is the time of learning. Perhaps I had better explain. Many years ago, we began doing the simple exercise of “Follow the Leader”. Since I have lived here all my life, I was able to lead that long line of campers through the trees, along the streams, over the hills, and down the the steep banks, because I knew where things were in the dark. We would intersperse staff members through the line for safety reasons and off into the blackness of the night we would go.

I will be honest with you. I delighted in getting close, but not in the stream. Even though my feet never got wet, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I could hear the sound of feet splashing in the small rippling brook.

I loved going close to a stand of willows, for I knew it wouldn’t be long before I would hear from someone in the line behind me about being tangled up.

I liked going over small but steep banks, just to hear the voices of children about six to ten back in the line “Where did the ground go?”

After all the excitement, I would gather all the kids around and stand quietly under the starlight and ponder some thoughts. I would point out the fact that my feet were dry because I didn’t step in the water. I always got a kick out of the fact that a number of kids directly behind me could say the same thing and then here was a kid that had wet feet. Interesting thing - so did a number of kids behind him. Or someone would say how they had something “bump them in the dark” and many would respond the same. I would just chuckle and say “That never happened to me”, and of course those right behind me would chime right in making the same statement. I would let this go on for awhile and then draw things to a moment of quietness. As the frogs would be croaking, I would state that if we were following the leader many of these situations would never occur, but since each of us relied on the one in front of us .........well might I conclude that the best leaders were also the best followers. That is why it is so important that we follow the right leader. Every one in the line on those dark night (except the one in the back) was a leader.

At Rainbow Bible Ranch, we realize that life is pretty similar to this childhood game. Good leaders are good followers and unlike the nighttime activity, we have a choice in who we follow.