Tragedy and pain are all too real in our society because we're all suffering bruises and effects from the Fall. A haunting visual from 9-11 showed the plethora of people holding pictures of dead or missing loved ones. It was as if they were screaming, "Notice my pain! Doesn't anybody care?" But because of the Fall, we are all battered, bruised, and broken.

We train men and women to minister to these people not by treating symptoms, but by treating the disease of sin. We live and operate behind enemy lines, in hostile territory. The sight of planes crashing into buildings makes that abundantly clear. But Christ is still victorious and in control. We need to emphasize that."

—Tal Prince, director of external relations at Beeson Divinity School

To minister effectively to the spiritual hunger awakened in our society, we need to make sure we have a healthy spirituality ourselves. During this time of crisis, many of us have struggled with doubt. Many have harbored anger toward God.

We admit we can't understand the mysteries of God's purposes. But we can go to the cross of Jesus Christ. We can see that, at the cross, God took upon himself abandonment, abuse, forlornness, depth of suffering. Christ himself cried out from the depths of his being, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" When we see what God did through Jesus Christ we can say, "There is a safe place in the universe, in the shelter of the Almighty, in the shadow of the Most High." That place is Calvary.

—Adapted from a speech by Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary