065: Daniel

April 21, 2010
Daniel 1:17

On Wednesdays I tutor two middle schoolers I’m friends with – Mariah and Sam. I volunteer at their school during the lunch period on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, so I’m familiar with their daily environment, which makes it nice when we hang out once a week.

We spend our time going over pre-Algebra, drinking coffee or bubble tea, and make sly, witty jokes. Sam in particular has a wicked-funny sense of humor that you’d never really expect… until it jumps out at you and surprises you! Mariah is generally a very precocious and fun young woman. She’s one of my little sister’s friends, so it’s kind of entertaining to just sit back and observe her and her friendship from a distance.

I never, in a million years, would have thought someday I’d be tutoring and teaching math. All the way through school I hated the subject. I did take statistics and trig at the same time my very last quarter of my senior year, and that about did me in! I was not cut out for that much logical thought with no creative outlet along the way.

Daniel is one of my favorite books. I was skimming it again recently and was struck again by how the Bible explains that God blessed Daniel. Since I bear his name, I’ve always wanted to become like Daniel. He seems incredibly smart and talented and wise – I wish that those things were passed on with the name! Mostly, though, Daniel seems to me to be pure in heart. As a teenager he determined to not violate the laws of God, even when he was far away from his home and his support network and probably being held against his will for a job he never desired. How incredibly mature and disciplined he was! As a result, God blessed him and his other faithful friends with mathematical and literature aptitude, and granted Daniel the gift of interpreting dreams and vision… and God USED these men in their place for His own glory!

I wish I knew more about Daniel. Did he have brothers and sisters? Did he get married? I’ve always presumed not, simply because he probably was made a eunuch considering his place of service in the palace. What was it like for him to live among a pagan, foreign people? How his faith in God and love for God and trust in God must have been developed and strengthened through many long, arduous years of serving God in Babylon!

My prayer is that I will be a Daniel in my world.