Hi! My name is Daniel. Friends call me Dan. Yes, I’m that famous guy who got thrown into a den of lions in 539 BC. Everyone seems to assume I walked into that den with a swagger. I was thrown in from the top! Fortunately I got a soft landing on a confused lion.
Was I afraid? Of course I was! Have you ever seen a lion?! I mean a real lion not a documentary on National Geographic. The average lion is one half taller than me, and I’m not even Zacchaeus. (Sorry, Zac).
There were possibly 36 lions in that den. Those lions had not been fed for days! This is how lions kill: they tear into their prey with those retractable claws and go for the throat. I half expected a gruesome death. My life flashed before me and I cried inside. It was emotionally painful. This was a politically motivated murder. My enemies hated my guts, my faith and prominence. It was all envy.
At what point did my faith rise? I really don’t know. It was either I died or God delivers me. My friends and I had made a pact. Honos vel vivens vel mortuus: honor, in life or death. Like my friends, Shade, Mesch and Abed… the guys who passed through fire, I prayed to God to spare my life, but in case he didn’t I was prepared to die. You can’t threaten a man who’s ready to die with death.
I’ve often wondered why those lions didn’t tear me apart. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah must have been in that den. As leader of the pack every lion had to obey his wishes. He marked me as his territory. No one could touch me. I can say like Dave, I have passed the valley of the shadow of death.
One thing I learned? The Lord delivers. He will deliver you from whatever is going on. Have impossible faith in God.
And yes, the newspapers did features on me. But I still shudder at the whole experience.
I hope you get this letter. I understand you humans don’t do letters again, you now do something called email. Whatever that is.
Remember this: Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the determination to keep going despite all odds.
I hope this helps.
Dan.
Aphorism CITY 