Life may not be as pleasant, but you can survive without your 401K.  A healthy person can even survive for weeks without food.  But without water, the average person will go into shock and die within days.

What does the 2008 Israeli Prime Minster contest have to do with a 2500 year-old prophecy? Who is Ms. Tzipi Livni? And, what are the real prospects for middle east peace, whether led by Ms. Livni, Ehud Barak, former general Shaul Mofaz, Benjamin Netanyahu or others who wish to lead Israel into 2009?

If you are reading this commentary, it means that the world did not end on September 10, 2008.  Why that date?  It's the day that European Organization for Nuclear Research switched on the Large Hadron Collider under the border of France and Switzerland.

While we prayed for God's protection for those being battered by Hurricane Ike, another storm was tearing through Wall Street the weekend of September 13-14.  And, while the full impact will not be understood for months, there is no doubt that a devastating financial hurricane ripped through the heart of US financial systems that weekend.

As one who has walked through the aftermath of many disasters – having represented insurance companies for decades as a claims adjuster – my attention was really grabbed by the pictures of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ike, and other recent storms.