The Legend of the Cherokee Indian Youth

 

"We Are Never Alone"


Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage?

His dad takes him into the forrest..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 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.