A Time to Laugh

Our most recent trip to Dollywood included an afternoon show in a cool, dark theatre (the actual reason we attended) — Veggie Tale’s Rack, Shack, and Benny. It made a huge impression on Isaac, and as I read him the real Bible story last night, he kept correcting it, “No, no, no, no. Larry and Bob and Junior didn’t want to sing the Bunny song. So . . . “

Well, I thought today we’d feature our own version of Daniel 3 sans salad fixin’s. Meet our cast:

Shadrach:

Meshach:

Abednego (and his understudy):

The King was played by Yours Truly, but I’m not nearly as cute on your average day, so no photo for me. We first made crowns:

Then we built King Nebuchadnezzer’s golden statue, 90 feet high and 9 feet wide. Shadrach and Meshach knocked it over before the King could get a good picture. Shadrach built a second one just for good measure.

The King tried to yell out the story before the fun began, but it’s hard with so many very active “Hebrew” children running around. The music commenced (Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” seemed most appropriate), and those stubborn, God-fearing boys did not bow down. So into the fiery furnace they went! We even stoked the fire with hot, hot pillows.

At first, Isaac said, “I’m getting burned! I’m getting burned!! Ouch! It’s hot!” And Mommy had to explain, “But Jesus is in there with you. Remember? The Bible said they didn’t even smell of smoke and their hair wasn’t even singed. When Jesus is in there with you, the pagan punishment doesn’t last.” All morning we were throwing everything and everyone in the furnace. Mommy jumped in several times, and it was kinda nice in there — reclining and cushy. I even used the “furnace” as a playful threat when silliness or just-being-boys got out of hand. “If you don’t behave, I’m gonna have to throw you in the fiery furnace!” And the giggling and chasing continued. When all four of us were lying there in the furnace near lunch time, I said, “See? It’s not hot in here. Jesus is here with us!”

And that whole experience has made me think differently about the story. The last discussion of Daniel 3 that I heard was almost exactly 5 years ago. The sermon has now made the circuit and has been broadly distributed and even published. The moral of that speaker’s telling of Rack, Shack, and Benny was decidedly human-centered: make sure when you’re going through the fiery trial that others can see that Jesus is there with you. Sure, he emphasized that God should get the glory (sounds God-centered), but that depends all on me looking like God (really me-centered).

And that just ain’t it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t walking around in the furnace for the King’s eyes. They weren’t saying, “Yo, King!! Nee-ner, nee-ner, nee-ner. Look at us!!” Which is what they would have done if the point was looking like Jesus was with them. No. They were just chatting with Jesus. Walking around. Just chillin’.

The point of the story is that pagan punishments are irrelevant and kinda pointless when you’re safe in Christ. The capricious ruler or power-hungry and annoyed brother intends it for evil, but God makes it into good. It’s a Brer Rabbit story. When the believer get tossed smack-dab into Christ’s care, it’s your laughin’ place!

So during fiery trials you don’t have to look like Jesus is with you. Jesus is with you. Period. End of the story.

Funny how I was trying to teach Isaac a Bible story, and I really just learned it all over again.