Is There Any Other Explanation?

I got to go to my 30th high school reunion this past weekend. That made me feel seriously old. I mean, have I really been out of high school for THIRTY years? But after I got over the shocking realization that I really had graduated Three! Decades! Ago!... well after that I had a fantastic time. It was so great to see friends and catch up on each other's lives.

Of course, one of the first questions was, "Do you have any children?"

Hmmmm......well yes, as a matter of fact I do. Seven.

"SEVEN!?!?" they would exclaim in half statement and half question.

What could possibly be my reason for having so many children in the midst of culture that tells us that children are expensive and demanding and difficult?

Jesus. That is my only explanation.

But as I was thinking about that question and that explanation while I was "running" the other morning, I start thinking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneggo. I had just been studying their amazing story in Daniel 3. In the account they are required to bow down to a golden statue but they will not turn their backs on God. And when they refuse, the King throws them into a fiery furnace.

They willingly go in the fiery furnace knowing God COULD save them although they were not sure if He WOULD. But they served God, remained faithful, and left the results in His hands.

And God showed up. Right in the middle of the flames.

And when they came not, not a hair was singed. Not a piece of clothing was scorched. And they didn't even smell like smoke!

I can't even sit near a campfire without the smell of smoke permeating ever fiber I have on!

But as they came out, and the king and his servants saw them, and they saw their condition and did not smell the smoke....

They were left with no other explanation.

It HAD to be God.

Just listen to King Nebuchadnezzar:

“Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring the edict of the king and 

giving up their bodies rather than serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!... 

For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.”

Daniel 3: 28-29

There was just no other explanation.  God is the only One that fit. God was the piece to the puzzle, the key to the door, the answer to the question, the cipher to the riddle.

What about me? What about me has no other explanation but Jesus?

• I have a lot of children, but so do families of other religions or families of no religion.
• I homeschool, but there are lots of people who homeschool with no religious faith.
• I am a stay-at-home Mom, married a long time, go to church every Sunday kind of girl.

But really....in the long run.....there are lots of people who do these things for lots and lots of reasons.

All I know, in my deepest knower, is that I want my life to be lived in a way that if someone was to see it, examine it, and yes, even SMELL it, it would not make sense...

Not without the explanation, the key, the answer:

Jesus!