I'm going to blame it on the pregnancy! I never know when these random tears are going to pop out of my eyeballs. Well, today it happened driving down Hwy 86 toward Castle Rock to go grocery shopping at Sprouts.

The boys were in the back as usual, listening to their current, favorite CD set "The Singing Bible." And a completely silly, song sung by kids, for kids sent my emotions into overdrive. It's a song about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. It's peppy. It's fun. The boys and I love to sing along with it. But there is a part of the song that "gets me" emotionally every time I hear it but today my emotions got a little extreme and I actually started to cry. The lyrics go something like:

Oh, they were thrown in the fire
But Nebuchadnezzar saw they were not alarmed
'cause there were four men in the fire
Who was the fourth one?
Well, He looked like the son of God
And He was keeping them safe from harm...

Suddenly, this was no longer a kid's song.

I could see it as an historical event that really took place. Three young men (some biblical scholars believe they may have been teenagers) were really carried off into slavery to a completely secular, godless culture. They were told to choose between bowing down before a graven image or death. I was suddenly seeing three young men, looking first at the golden idol, then to a furnace of flames that had been heated to 7x greater than usual and back at the idol, knowing that one simple gesture would save their lives. And choosing to step toward the flames instead and saying, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:17-18)

Three young men who had the character, integrity and tenacity to obey their God no matter what! They were going to believe that God was good. Whether their physcial bodies went up in cinders or the son of God showed up beside them, they were going to believe His ways for them were best.

I think what got to me today is I have spent a lot of time thinking about the completely secular, godless culture my boys are growing up in - a modern day, Babylon where sex sells anything and unborn babies are murdered without a second thought. When Patrick and I were talking about what to name Daniel before he was born, Patrick said, "I think he should be Daniel because he is going to grow up in Babylon and my hope is that he will be a prophet for the One True God just as Daniel of the Bible was." Today, as I was singing away with the boys about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, best friends to Daniel of the Bible and trying to go against the cultural grain of ancient Babylon, I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw my own little men sitting there. I wondered if I was doing a good enough job raising my own Shadrachs, Meshachs and Abednegos.

Of course, the historical account of the Bible has a happy ending as Nebuchadnezzar's heart was changed when he saw how the three men would give up their lives for God. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had no promise they would live. They didn't know the son of God was going to show up, but they were going to obey him anyway.

My selfish prayer is that my children never have to face losing their lives for following the One True God. Or even their way of life or comfort, for following the One True God. But I know my godly prayer should be, that if the calling God has for them is to lay down their lives, that I (and Patrick) will have fullfilled our role in helping them be men of character, integrity and tenacity who would willingly step toward the flames.