Canadian poet Bliss Carmen once asked "[w]as it a year or lives ago?" and for me, this how is how I feel about September 11th. How can it be that years have now passed? How can it be? Like most of us I can tell you exactly where I was that morning. I remember the urgent voices "you have to see this. You have to come now." I remember gasping and...

After meeting the more urgent physical needs (like providing food, water, shelter, and medical care), the person might be ready to talk about his or her trauma. Below we give you some examples on how to help someone deal with the psychological impact of the crisis. What might be the most important thing you can do is give the individual the opportunity...

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . This God—his way is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31). After the loss of his ten children owing to a “natural disaster” (Job 1:19), Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). At the end of the book, the...

We’ve watched our TV screens in horror. The pain and agony of fellow human beings in the midst of disaster goes beyond our comprehension. We grapple with the magnitude of it. Our minds scramble to make sense of it and we simply cannot. Opinions fly from every side. “Its God’s judgment,” some say. Others say, “It’s a sign of the end times.”...

The hum in the office grew as people filtered in that morning. Soft chuckles over some incident the night before, muffled conversations and ringing phones filled the air. Suddenly, an urgent tone broke in. The first reports of a possible tragedy began circulating, and while some employees wrapped up phone calls, one or two turned on a radio, and...

Life changing events happen to all of us. Important events that change the course of life from that day forward. The ones we choose are usually exciting and filled with anticipation: a wedding, a new career, a family started, a move made. All change the course of events in our lives from that day on and we step willingly into them. It’s the...