This morning on the radio I heard an interviewer point out that we wereat scale six on the swine flu pandemic, category 3 on the heatwave andhigh alert on national security. It all seems quite scary when it isput into official categories. Later this morning I tuned in to a phonein on how to avoid a lightening strike, given the forecast of stormsahead. Suddenly Britain seems a dangerous place to live.

It iseasy to become nervous with all this bad publicity, certainly we needto heed warnings and act responsibly, but ultimately much of this isoutwith our control. That could make us terrified except that we have aGod who is in control, bad things can still happen but he is with us inthe midst of them and continues to love and care about us. I readsomewhere that we should pray twice as often as we worry, and thatseems like very good advice.

"Be still and know that I am Lord" Psalm 46 vs 10