Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage? His dad takes him into the forest..blindfolded...and leaves him....alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night...and not take off the blindfold until the ray of sun shines through it. He is all by himself. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night..he is a MAN.
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience. Each lad must come into his own manhood.The boy is terrified...he can hear all kinds of noise...Beasts are all around him. Maybe even some human would hurt him. The wind blows the grass and earth... And it shakes his stump. But he sits stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could be a man.
Finally, after a horrific night..the sun appears and he removes his blindfold. It is then that he sees his father..sitting on the stump next to him...at watch...he has been there 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.-- Author Unknown
"The Joy of the Lord is my Strength"Nehemiah 8:10
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