There was a boy named Jim who moved into the neighborhood just after his 11th birthday. For a long time he had dreamed about becoming a Scout. Jim was a bit timid, perhaps too much so. He didn’t push himself into things but usually waited for an invitation.
Well, one night Jim came down to visit our troop meeting. He looked in through the window and saw us playing and heard our voices. But he couldn’t quite force himself to come through those doors. Now don’t smile too broadly. It wasn’t so very long ago that you might have been in Jim’s place. Maybe you were inclined to be timid, too. Jim waited around awhile and went home, without getting his nerve up to the coming-in point. He was pretty miserable about his failure, but he came back a week later.
He waited outside the door again. He just couldn’t force himself to come in uninvited. Finally he saw a Scout coming down the street, heading for the meeting. That Scout was you. Now, that’s all of the story I’m going to tell you tonight. What happened? Did you brush by him or did you invite him to come in?
