Day 27: God's Fingers

The Prompt: Describe the fear in Daniel 5:5 when God's fingers appeared and wrote on the wall.

Can you imagine seeing a hand- not a whole hand, mind you, a part of one- being suspended in midair and moving?  Since this was God's fingers, I picture this to be a pretty big hand.  I suspect a few people looked at their wine glasses and reconsidered taking that fifth drink.  Maybe others were too drunk to care.  Most people though, were probably filled with pure fear.  The kind that clutches your heart and constricts your lungs.  The kind that makes your heart beat so fast you can feel the blood pulsing in your body.  The kind that churns your stomach.  Verse 6 reads that, "The king's countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other."  He was scared!  If King Belshazzar had been like me, he probably thought the fingers were going to turn on him and strangle him. And what about after the fingers?  Would other body parts appear and harm him?  Would bewitched objects start to move around the room?  Would ghosts from his defeated enemies appear for revenge?  Would a fire suddenly rage?

I'm sure prayers were uttered to their gods, and people started second-guessing the choices they had made in life.  What heinous crimes had they done that had angered the gods?  He and his guests probably wanted to run, but their feet were planted into the floor.  The floating partial hand was mesmerizing, and I'm sure they were curious to know what it was going to write.  It probably disturbed them even more when they couldn't even understand the message the fingers were delivering. 

Day 15: The Lions' Den

The Prompt:  What happened with Daniel when he was in the lions' den?

Just because this is a writing challenge does not mean I should feel obligated to always write a story, so today I will be writing a poem.  I do not write them very often, so this one will be a little weak.

I hit the ground with a thud.

The earth was cold, hard, and covered by mud.

All I could see was darkness.

All I could feel was darkness, endless darkness.

A low rumble was heard from deep within

Sounding menacing, hungry, and as evil as sin.

I could hear the claws of these beasts on the ground

As they scraped against the gravel that was all around.

Their eyes how they glowed like yellow orbital disks,

Convincing me the owners had nothing to risk.

Slowly the creatures surrounded on all sides,

Leaving me nowhere in that pit to hide.

This is the end, I thought to myself.

Then I remembered the One who could help.

I took a deep breath and murmured a prayer,

Knowing that God had always been there.

Lord, You can hear, help me tonight.

It looks as though I'm losing the fight.

If this is the end you seem fit to give,

Then please calm me in my final minutes to live.

I could feel hot breath closing in on me.

I started to shut my eyes, although I still couldn't see.

Then suddenly light, glorious light, appeared.

 It filled the whole pit 'til nothing could be feared.

Confused, the lions scuffled and started to roar.

Then there was silence, just as before.

My eyes located some light that shone through a crack

And found that my hand had landed on a soft furry back.

I was astounded to see that lions were around me

But lying beside me as docile as could be.

My Lord has saved me, He did not forget.

I am sure there is still hope for me yet.