Min? Jien?

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

The boy's father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him on his own. The boy is required to sit on a tree stump for one whole night. He cannot 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 to have become a man.

Having been through this experience, he is not allowed to tell other boys about it, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified. Wild beasts must surely be all around him! Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blowing through the grass and leaves makes him shiver... The cold ground beneath his feet might be hiding a snake ready to strike... He can hear all kinds of noises and imagines all kinds of horrible things. But still he sits it out on the stump, never once removing the blindfold. It would be the only way to prove that he has become a man!

Finally, after an endless night the sun appears and he can remove his blindfold. Only then does he discover that his father has been sitting on the stump next to him. He has been at watch the whole night long, protecting him 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, even though we cannot see Him so close. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

If you liked this story, believe it and live it for yourself.
If not, maybe you took off your blindfold before dawn...

Just because you can't see God,
Doesn't mean He is not there.
"For we walk by faith, not by sight."