Peter, well said. I think this is why worship is so important. It lets us reframe the world and our place in it. I read a book last year about a man who spent a week on a mountain, and then spent a week on the couch watching cable television. He then wrote a book about that experience. His basic premise was this: the week on the mountain made him realize how small he was. The week on the couch, with all the commercials made him feel like he was at the center of the universe. Thanks for the good thoughts brother!

Theologically — I went to a training workshop a few weeks ago held by people who were first responders to major tragedies — like the earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Katrina. These people counseled individuals right when the event happened, while the victims were still in shock. The workshop was three days long, but the basic gist of it is in these verses:

Proverbs 1:7a–The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbes 3:5– Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Phillippians 4:6-7 — Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The basic idea behind those verses is that God profoundly transcends any understanding I may think I have of my situation; I don’t understand my scary situation until I realize that God is bigger than my scary situation. I mean, just comparing the earth to the universe — you can’t even make out the MILKY WAY, I recently found out, when you compare it to our current limits of our visual on the universe on a projector screen, so forget earth — it seems almost comical sometimes that we are so worried about things on such a small, insignificant speck that, if you were looking at the universe through a microscope, you wouldn’t be able to make out. And how small we are compared to earth!!! So maybe God is trying to make a point that, just as his universe is bigger than the earth, He is bigger than our worries and concerns.

Emotional — This is something that’s easier for me to say than to live out. It takes more faith than I have at times, but I’m working on it. I’m really sorry about your friend, and, to be honest, death really scares the crap out of me (although I know it shouldn’t), so your story of your friend helped me a lot with that. Thanks, and I’m waiting on seeing how this situation plays out.