These have been a terrific couple of weeks. Just recently I was driving my car down the interstate. It was approximately 8pm and flood showers were pouring out of the heavens. All of the sudden my car hydroplaned and then spun out of control into the side wall. It was amazing!! I realized in that split second that on coming traffic was going to pretty much end me. So I was settling things in my head so I could be at peace with it. Thankfully, the car hit the wall and stopped in the middle of the slow lane facing the right direction. I turned the ignition on and slowly drove off to the next exit. Now personally, I'm not super fond of car accidents, so needless to say I wasn't super excited about it.

Any hoo, with all that going on, I've also got family in the hospital and la di doo di da… however this past week I was really challenged with a passage in scripture. Daniel chapter 3. It's a story about these 3 dudes named shad(rak), (me)shak and (abin)digo. Basically the king built a tower and said whoever doesn't bow to it must burn. Well shad, shak, and digo weren't into idol worship so they didn't bow. The king made the fire super hot and then threw them in. They pretty much just prayed through the whole thing. When the king looked in the furnace the three guys weren't being burned and he saw a fourth man walking around with them. He described him as one "like the son of God”! He then let them out and was amazed at the God they served.

Here’s what I took from this awesome story. In our lives we are going to be thrown into "fires", some may be small and others brush fires that take out endless territory. The amazing thing is that God doesn't put out the fire, we live through it and he walks it out with us. I'm sure that the 3 guys from the story would have preferred not to go through the fire, but how much more evident was God to them afterwards!! Not only that but how much more evident was God to the people around them. It's pretty awesome, and the thing to take note of is that they weren't burnt, not even their clothes, they didn't even smell like smoke! If that’s not encouraging I don't know what is. Whatever the fire is and no matter how hot it may seem, know that if you ask God he'll go through it with you. Now I don't care how much you love "the sopranos", there is no better protection, then God's protection!! All you have to do is ask.