NEVER WILL I LEAVE YOU; NEVER WILL I FORSAKE YOU

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian 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 a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this

experience because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts

must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm.

The wind blew the grass and earth and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never

removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.

It was then that he discovered 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, our Heavenly Father

is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes,

all we have to do is reach out to Him.

NEVER WILL I LEAVE YOU; NEVER WILL I FORSAKE YOU !!!