"Shadrachs"

It was 1993, I was 15 years old. My school had a work experience program, and we had to choose and organise 2 weeks of work experience. My first choice was to spend a week with a family friend who owned a sporting goods store in a big shopping centre. Since my first taste of working ‘retail’ I have had 3 retail jobs. The first two were great, working for a few months at a time in a ski shop. First time around in Vail, Colorado & the second in Whistler, British Columbia. These jobs were bearable as they served a purpose other than earning money – skiing! My third experience was less pleasant, actually the hardest job I have ever had! I was a Retail Travel Consultant. This job was more about sending my clients away on great adventures. My conclusion: Retail is not a great career option!

My second week was different! I spent the week doing all kinds of things. I have joked before that these included mountain biking, rock climbing, meeting people for lunch, watching Star Trek into the wee hours and visiting book stores - it sounds pretty good doesn’t it! What job was I experiencing I hear you ask? Being a Youth Minister at my local church is the answer.

The week I spent with Ken Moser, Youth Minister of Christ Church St Ives in Sydney Australia changed my life! I got to spend the week with a man who was living the life the Lord had wanted him to live. Ken is a great Youth Minister and the Lord has used His servant well and lowly but surely He is 'changing the world’.

That week I was given a nickname “Shadrach”. Ken named me Shadrach, as I was going to be his ‘slave’ for the week. Ken got this idea from a friend of his, Noel, who was a Doctor. Noel spent some time working in Africa, where he had a servant boy to look after him – his name was Shadrach. Ken bought together Shadrach from Africa and Shadrach from Daniel Chapter 3 to create my nickname. Later on 2 friends of mine were nicknamed Meshach and Abednego – nicknames that did not stick.

My nickname has stuck for the last 12 years (hence the name of this blog), but more importantly my desire to open my life to what the Lord of the Bible wants from me has stuck too. My Grandmother used to ask me “What do you want to do with your life?” I used to tell Grandma “I want what the Lord wants for my life”. In one sense I still don’t know what that is … I keep praying that I will have ‘eyes to see, ears to hear and feet to follow’ when He chooses to show me. In another way, I know that being “willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God” is a big part of it – I am trying to do both!

One incredible blessing that has come from living this way has been meeting my (now) wife, Jessica. How that happened is another blog in it’s self. Jess is a blessing in so many ways to me, but one big one is that she wants the same thing for her life as I do for mine – we want what the Lord wants for our lives! That isn’t always easy, in fact it’s a struggle of epic proportions, but that’s what we are striving to do. We have become ‘Shadrachs’.

fromthefieryfurnace is Shadrachs blog, Shadrachs story, Shadrachs journey, Shadrachs struggle – yet it is also the Lord’s. The Lord is the one leading us, opening and closing doors, changing hearts and minds, making us His own. Join us …