Meshach, That Other Guy, and Abednego

What's it all about??

I woke up in the middle of the night (not unusual so far) with the words ‘Meshach, (blank), and Abendego’ in my head. What the HELL?? Over and over, as if the most important task of the night was to remember who that other guy was. Who WAS he?

So I got to work on it and as I was trying to think of that third guy I remembered it wasn’t ‘Abendego’, it was ‘Abednego’. That part solved…but how did I know??

Now who was that other guy? I thought of ‘Horshack’. I thought of ‘Rorschach”. Nope. I was in bed trying to sleep, dammit, so there was no way I was going to grab my iPad and Google it. Just forget about it. Who cares, anyway?

Shadrach! That’s IT! It was Shadrach! But who were those guys and why are they in my head in the middle of the damn night? Wasn’t there a song…? I’m NOT going to look them up.

I slept.

So here I am this morning, I’ve looked them up, and it appears they weren’t three wise men, as I had decided they might be, but rather three devout Hebrew men who wouldn’t go along with Nebuchadnezzar’s demands to worship his golden statue, preferring to worship their God in their own way, and were doomed to a fiery death.

Lordy!

But wait! There’s more! They prayed hard and God sent an angel down from heaven to get in the middle of that fire, roaring at seven times the normal pyrotechnical temperature according to the Book of Daniel, to make sure it didn’t singe a single hair on their heads.

It worked!

Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t believe his eyes! He saw that God was more powerful than he was and he became a better person for it. He promoted all three of them, along with Daniel, who was in that story, too. And I guess they all lived happily ever after.

And, yes, there is a song! I knew it! (How did I know it?)

But what were they doing in my head in the wee hours of the morning? You know I’m an atheist, right? But what you couldn’t know is that I’m working on a piece about religion and it’s not friendly to it.

Seriously.

So is this a sign?

I mean…is it?

---

(To anyone who sees this as a chance to convert me, just don’t. I’m having fun here. Don’t spoil it.)

---