It started with thunder. Ear-splitting, chest-rattling thunder. Black clouds rolled in and rain poured down as lightning lit up the Texas sky. And in the middle of it all, a small group of boys in uniform, rehearsing their Color Guard ceremony with a mixture of nerves, pride, and fierce determination.

"Don’t Invite Me to Church" Brandon didn’t mince words. He was here for Trail Life—for his son, for the boys—but church? No thanks. He’d seen too much. Pastor Darrell Cooper didn’t flinch. He didn’t argue. He didn’t push. He just smiled and said, “Okay.”

“When my husband left our family, my prayer for my sons was simple: ‘God, please send godly men into their lives.’”

There's No Offseason for Adventure When the world falls asleep beneath a blanket of snow, when bears slumber in their dens and squirrels hunker down, waiting for warmer days—boys see something different. To them, winter is a blank canvas for adventure.

The rain started the night before, a steady drumbeat on the tents that turned the ground into a quagmire by morning. But no amount of mud was going to dampen the spirits of the Trailmen. This was the Yukon Adventure—one of Trail Life’s longest-running and most challenging events—and they had come prepared.

“Why would I wait for ‘someone’ to address the issues I see, when I am indeed someone?” -Trailman, Cash Daniels

The boys came prepared in teams of four for a highlight challenge of the Daniel Boone Base Camp Event. Each year Trailmen compete to build a fire tall enough to burn a marker string, boil water, and steep coffee for their Troopmaster to drink. This year, however the planning team added a twist. The fire had to be ...