It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. Some people who would normally be here are out of town for the Memorial Day weekend and most of us don’t have to go to work tomorrow. I think a cloud of holiday disengagement hovers over my head. Today we are looking at prayer through the biblical character Daniel. It’s a new revelation to me that Daniel was in his 80s when he was thrown into the lion’s den.

I’m not sure what to think about hardship. It’s something I try to avoid and I don't wish it on anyone else. But I wonder if we would be reading about Daniel if he had spent his life in Jerusalem and had not been taken into captivity by the Babylonians.