Terrorist Attacks and Unexpected Tragedies
by Pastor Denny Wayman, FMC of Santa Barbara (CA)

As my wife, Cheryl, and I rode the double-decker bus in London on a recent trip, I was surprised at how often the tour guide mentioned 9/11. Although the attacks had occurred three years ago in a city far, far away, the lives of London's millions had been changed by them. Fear and safety concerns had permeated every part of their city just as they had New York. In fact, it would be accurate to say that this fear has infected our entire world.

Like many, as I watched the Opening Ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, I could not remove the nagging thought that this was the number-one target for an expected terrorist attack. Apprehensive, I lost some of the joy of the moment as I imagined losing our world's best athletes to such an evil.

Unlike wars in the past where identified enemies would come in hordes with large weapons of war and their rumbling could be heard long before they arrived, the terrorist's war is as psychological as it is physical. No one knows when or where his or her peaceful day might be blown apart and loved ones lost.

We need God to help us live in this "new" world.

It occurs to me that although this seems to be a new reality, the truth is that tragedy has almost always come in this same way. Since none of us knows when our peaceful lives might be disrupted by tragedy — from illnesses to accidents — we often imagine the worst. Unchecked, this fear can become a permeating paranoia. As loved ones travel or as they gather into a single location, our worries can steal our joy by keeping us from living full lives, due to imagined dangers and risks.

Placing our loved ones, as well as ourselves, into God's eternal care is not just a nice addition to the Christian life, but an emotional and spiritual foundation that allows us to enjoy life — a very necessary foundation if we are to thrive in this fallen world.