Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian
(male) youth's rite of Passage?
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds
him, and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night, and
not remove the blindfold
until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.
He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is
considered a MAN.
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience,
because each lad must come into manhood on his own. Naturally, the boy is
terrified. He can hear all kinds
of noises. Wild beasts must surely be
all around him. Maybe even some human might try to do him harm. The wind blows
the grass and earth, and shakes his
stump, but he sits stoically, never
removing the blindfold. It will be the only way he can become a
man!
Finally, after a long , horrific night, the sun
appears and he removes his blindfold. It is then that he discovers his father
sitting on the stump next
to him. He had been at watch the entire night,
protecting his son from harm. We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't
know it, God is watching over
us, sitting on the stump beside us. When
trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.
Moral of the story: Just because you can't
physically see God, doesn't mean He is not there.
"For we walk by faith, not by
sight."