u/TheFoolishJester_

I promise I’m asking this question in good faith.

Last week, I told a coworker about my upcoming vacation. I was looking forward to doing some hiking but saw rain in the forecast. This coworker told me, “Remember you can pray the bad weather away.”

So I’m just wondering, is this something the majority of Christians believe in and do? I was raised Catholic and always got the impression that prayer was more about connecting with God and asking for His guidance rather than a free ticket to get what you want. Like, I never thought God would change the weather or something for me just because I asked nicely.

I understand that this may vary between denominations too. All perspectives are welcome!

I’m an ASM of a really great troop. We get a big-ish crop of new Scouts every year, and have a solid group of active older boys. These older boys are generally good kids, but I’ve noticed them talking down about certain aspects of Scouting either in front of or directly to the younger boys. Here are some things I have observed:

-Our council summer camp has a first-year camper program that’s meant to check off several Tenderfoot-to-First Class requirements as well as teach new Scouts some basic Scout skills. We make sure all first years are signed up. I heard older boys directly telling the first years that this program sucks and is boring. Some first years grumbled about having to do the program in the weeks leading up to camp.

-Also at summer camp this year, when the staff would announce evening programming and events, I would sometimes hear the older boys jokingly asking each other if they were going, and then laughing as though the idea was silly. Younger Scouts heard, and I don’t know if any of them went to any of these events. On more than one occasion I even found the young guys standing by the older boys, WATCHING THEM PLAY CARDS, instead of exploring what camp has to offer.

-Some Lodge representatives came to the troop to talk about joining the OA. When a young Scout asked some older boys what the OA was like, they said something to the effect of “it’s a bunch of dudes in costumes doing this cringeworthy ceremony all so you can do free labor and go to an ice cream social during summer camp.”

And on and on.

Now, it’s not all negativity all the time. The older boys really hype up our troop campouts, Philmont, and the older Scout programs at summer camp. The younger guys talk excitedly about the things they’ll get to do when they’re older, but I’m disappointed that they’ve been discouraged from participating in many of the things they can do now. When the older guys tell them an event, program, or council social is lame, the younger guys take them at their word and don’t try these things themselves.

Is this where I should step in as an adult, and tell the older boys to keep it to themselves? Or will that only discourage participation further (with the younger kids thinking I’m just “selling” them the program because I have to?) All advice is appreciated.

“She’s right mate” said Glocky the Clown as he loaded his gun.

Throwaway because my friends know my main.

I (28M) went on vacation last week. I paid my friend B (27M) to watch my dog and water my plants while I was gone. I told him he could use my apartment, TV, kitchen, etc while he’s there. I didn’t ask him to do any other chores or cleaning, and in fact told him he didn’t have to.

I came back from vacation earlier this week and found the house looking normal. Except that the toilet was clogged worse than any clog I have ever seen. I’m not kidding. Paper was piled up almost to seat level, and there was even a bit of shit on the seat itself. It looked like it had been that way for several days.

I texted B privately to say I wasn’t judging, but can he please come over and fix this? He responded simply “you told me I wouldn’t have to do any cleaning.” I said yes, that is what I said, but he left literal shit on my toilet and I want it gone. B denied that he’d even left it there, but I told him that I expected him to clean this mess for me as soon as possible. I’ve been using my building’s public bathroom since coming home.

B’s apartment is in the same building as mine, so it really wouldn’t be a big deal for him to just come over real quick and fix this. Any time I’ve seen him I’ve reminded him that I need this done, and he always says something like “it’s not a big deal” or “you said I wouldn’t have to clean” and continuing to deny that it was him that clogged the toilet. I’ve been keeping this issue between us, but the last time we hung out with a group of friends, B gestured to me and said “heads up, don’t ever do a small favor for this guy, he’ll try to make you clean his whole house.” My friends seemed awkward at this, with one of them saying something to me like “that really isn’t fair to B, you know?”

So I said that no, I wasn’t asking him to clean the whole house, just the toilet that he left shit all over. And because I was frustrated, I showed them the picture of my toilet (I’d originally sent it to B when he was downplaying the severity of it). All my friends started roasting B and calling him the Clogger. B texted me later and said that was a real asshole move, and that he gets that I’m mad, but it wasn’t fair to embarrass him like that. I’m wondering if I really was an asshole for that and should have kept the whole thing between just us.