Daniel in the Lion's Den - Rembrandt, 1652, Pen & Brush

When Daniel was told not to pray, he knew he faced being thrown to the lions. When Christians in Tennessee are told not to pray, they may face a lion of a different kind, the unemployment “lion.”.”

Recently in Westmoreland, Tennessee, four high school football coaches bowed their heads during a student led prayer at a game. The school board has told them not to do this again – school employees are not to appear to take part in any way in a student-led prayer.

This week I heard attorney Scott Woodruff say that we have to teach our people to love liberty, we can’t assume that it is a given. Our religious liberty is a prime example. Our faith is a personal commitment that sometimes calls for public expression. It’s always easier to “go along to get along, “ than risk standing out among a crowd of believers and unbelievers, but if we allow fear or intimidation or simple embarrassment to make us to avoid appropriate expressions of our liberty, we may find that freedom slowly disappears.

How should these coaches respond? I think the first step should be a private appeal.  “I’m not trying to draw attention to myself or make a statement, but I share a common faith with these students and to deny that in public would be a betrayal of my Lord. May I ask respectfully that you reconsider this ban?”

But if the authorities are unbending, I think these coaches should continue their quiet public participation in these student-led prayers. Daniel did not make a spectacle of himself, but he knew that God had called him to pray, so he continued his quiet expression of faith – and accepted the consequences. God delivered Daniel and God is able to deliver high school football coaches, too.

I have often thought in America it’s less likely a Christian will be thrown to the lions than pecked to death by chickens. In giving up our freedom and in choosing to give up even these small, humble testimonies of our faith – joining a public prayer, praying over our own lunch in a cafeteria – is a step toward not only weakened freedom, but weakened faith. Our message to our sons should be “Know where you stand, choose your battles carefully, but stand fast when the time comes.”

As many of you old friends know, our baby Katie has an electrical problem in her heart – when we found it when she was two weeks old, her heart rate was 278 beats per minute! We nearly lost her, but God graciously spared her life. Tomorrow she is having a dangerous, but necessary test to see if those extra electrical pathways are still there.  I’d be grateful if you’d be praying for her.

We’ve had a lot of challenges this year with Katie’s heart and Hal’s cancer. The love, prayers and encouragement you have given us have helped immeasureably.

If you’d like to follow our stories, you can go to our carepages:

Hal’s Care Page

Katie’s Care Page An explanation of what is happening to Katie tomorrow is in the post from Thursday.

Thanks so much!!

Melanie

The husband of an aid worker in Haiti drove a hundred miles in answer to his wife’s call for help, then dug her out from underneath a foot of concrete rubble.  The Associated Press story is here.

One does wonder where the men in the neighborhood were.  A hundred mile drive in Haiti isn’t like I-95 from Richmond to Washington, either; the story says she was trapped for ten hours. Pray for others in Haiti who need heroes today.

Dearest Friends,

I didn’t think I could bear anything else right now, but my loving Father had a different plan and though I can not understand it, I accept it from His hand and trust Him to bring us through it.

I told some of you earlier this week about Hal’s pneumonia and Katie and others in the family sick, and two children having tonsillectomies today (they are home and utterly miserable, poor things) and another on Monday, all for sleep apnea. Oh, the business is pretty wild this week, too. Katie hasn’t gotten any better, so as soon as we got home from the hospital this afternoon, I took her to the doctor. While I was there, the radiologist report from Hal’s x-ray Wednesday for the pneumonia came back.

Hal has a large mass in his chest. Our wonderful doctor got him immediately in for a CT scan this evening and we are now awaiting the results. We don’t know yet what we are facing, but it doesn’t look good.

I am exhausted. I am devastated. Hal and I are best friends, partners in business, co-authors, constant companions, happy parents, and we have the best marriage on earth. At this point, I am clinging to the Lord; trusting Him to do what is best; trying hard to just hold His hand as a child trusts his parent.

We would be very grateful for your prayers.

I am thinking about this hymn a lot:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake. 

Amen.