On a sunny September morning with white clouds hanging in a clear blue sky, I was attending a Bible study where the lecture had just begun. The speaker was handed a note. She paused; then she read it out loud. The World Trade Center had just been attacked. She said a brief prayer… and then continued the lecture.


I was stunned! My mind filled with visions of all-out nuclear war and the end of civilization. How could she calmly go on lecturing? The world was about to end! We needed to hunker down, take shelter, call our loved ones.


Then it dawned on me: She continued to do what God had called her to do. In the face of what seemed to me certain doom, she didn’t panic but fully trusted God for the outcome of those startling world events.


Remember Elisha’s words to his servant when their city was surrounded by enemy troops. “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). In the largest and smallest tragedies of our lives, we have the triumphant and risen Savior on our side!