As I write this, the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are in ruins. Criminals rule the streets of New Orleans. People who survived a hurricane are dying from the lack of food, water and medicine. Fuel prices are spiraling. The situation seems out of control.

In today's second reading, Paul tells the church at Philippi: "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

I don't know about you, but I find peace hard to come by. Even without an unthinkable catastrophe upon us, I rarely feel at peace. I am usually anxious about my career, my finances and my children's future. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, the situation in the southeastern United States will have stabilized. But will you and I be any more at peace?

Of course, Paul is talking about the peace of God. This is not a peace that can be delivered by the United Nations, the National Guard, or the New Orleans Police Department. Paul is talking about an inner peace, not a circumstantial peace. This is not the absence of conflict but the presence of contentment. How do we rid ourselves of the anxiety that plague us? "By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God."

Paul says that prayer is the key to inner peace. If you're like me, prayer is often the last thing you do in a time of crisis. When faced with a crisis, I usually simply try and escape or otherwise avoid the crisis. If it is a financial crisis, I try and save more money. If it is an occupational crisis, I try and find a new job. If one of my children is having a problem, I try and fix it. It doesn't usually occur to me to pray.

When I do pray, I usually ask God to make the crisis go away. Rarely do I pray for peace in the midst of a crisis.

Paul also gives some additional advice to the anxious: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things…then the God of peace will be with you."

In addition to prayer, we are challenged to reflect on what is good in our lives and our world. This is a helpful reminder in our world where we are bombarded by bad news. Fear sells newspapers and drives people to the television, so that is what the media gives us --- the frightening events of the day. Reflect on the good things in your life, Paul says, and the God of peace will be with you.

We need the peace of God, and we need the God of peace. While we must work to rid the world of the sources of pain and strife, we must also be able to experience God in the midst of these crises. We cannot manufacture peace. We can only receive it.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.