Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage?
His dad would take him into the forest blindfolded, and leave him - alone.
He was required to sit on a stump the whole night...and not take off the blindfold until a ray of sun shone through it.
He would be all by himself. He could not cry out for help to anyone.
Once he survived the night he would be a MAN. He could not tell the other boys of this experience.
Each lad must come into his own manhood.
The boy was terrified... could hear all kinds of noise. Beasts were all around him. Maybe even some human would hurt him.
The wind blew the grass and earth, and it shook his stump. But he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold.
It would be the only way he could be a man.
Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.
It was then that he saw his father - sitting on the stump next to him - at watch the entire night.
We are never alone. Even when we do not know it, our Father is protecting us. He is sitting on the stump beside us. All we have to do is reach out to Him.
