Daniel

Daniel was such an admirable man! Here are some of his qualities that I found super cool (from the few chapters we have read thus far)...

• He had a healthy diet: rather than eat the food from the king's table (which prolly was fatty stuff and unhealthy, in addition to being "unclean"), Daniel was willing to live on a diet of veggies (hopefully some of the veggies had some protein and stuff? I would not be able to survive without some protein in my diet hehe).
• He exercised: he was trained by the Babylonians in order to serve in the king's palace.
• He was smart and educated: he "showed aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand," he was taught the "language and literature of the Babylonians," and "in every matter of wisdom and understanding, about which the king questioned [him], he found [him] ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom."
• He was compassionate: after learning that the king had ordered the execution of all the wise men, Daniel went to the king and pleaded for more time. The wise men were not Isrealites, Daniel could have chosen to not care about them, but he did care and took steps to help them.
  
• He was a man of prayer: after pleading with the king for more time, he went to his friends and asked them to join him in prayer to "plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning" the king's dream.
• He was a leader: not only did he take leader-type roles for the king of Babylon, it seems accurate to assume that he was a leader among his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah by speaking up for them to the guard regarding their food, and also by leading them in prayer and the worship of God (not to mention that the bible contains the book of Daniel not books named after his friends hehe).
  
• He praised God: after the dream was revealed to him, Daniel stopped to give praise to God (Dan 2:17-23).
• He gave God all the glory: before telling the king about the dream and its interpretation, Daniel made it clear to the king that it was God who revealed the dream to Daniel. He gave God allllll the glory and took absolutely no credit for any of the revelations.

and most impressively....

• He stayed closely connected to God no matter what: he had every reason to lose sight of God-- 1) he was young when he was exiled to Babylon, surely his youth could have caused him to stray from God, 2) he was far from home, surely being away from familiar surroundings could have caused him to stray from God, 3) he was a prisoner, surely he could have been angry or bitter at God, 4) he was in a foreign land witnessing new customs and the worship of other gods, surely he could have followed their ways and their religions, 5) he was being lavished by the king with honor and riches, surely Daniel could have eaten the king's food and he could have become proud, forgetting all about God, etc.--but Daniel DID NOT forget about God... through gratitude, prayer, obedience, humility, the fellowship of his 3 friends, and whatever else (singing, prayer walks with his friends, serving, etc.)... the point is, he stayed closely connected with God no matter what.
  

Daniel, hmmm... dreamy huh? :) hehe

Love ya! Tera