We are grateful to you Mac (Wilfred McCarty of The Old Soldier’s Home, Washington DC) for sharing this comforting reflection on Christianity!

Anonymous

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 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.