The pressure to conform must have been incredible. Most other young men like him gave in. Not Daniel, and not his three friends.

Taken to Babylon as a young teenager, Daniel was expected to no longer be a Jew, but to become a Babylonian. His mind would be reprogrammed, his Jewish name replace with a pagan Babylonian name, and his strict Jewish diet discarded for the unclean food of a pagan king.

Daniel drew the line with the food. He would not defile himself with it. That would mean death, unless somehow he was able to get his Babylonian overseers to allow him to substitute vegetables and water for the king's rich food and wine.

We'll see how Daniel's firm stand turned out and whether there is a lesson for any of us as we face pressures to conform today.