Don’t Look the Other Way

World peace. Something that a beauty queen used to throw out as a pat answer during the Miss America pageant when asked ‘what will you work for if crowned?’ while the rest of us viewers at home would snicker. Something that we still pray for in church – but feel like we’re just saying the words. Something, today, that may be a more precarious issue that ever before with ISIS on the rampage. Perhaps with an upcoming trip to Italy planned with my husband to celebrate our fifth anniversary – and hearing about the latest threats against Rome by ISIS, not to mention the hundreds of refugees who drowned from a capsized boat yesterday off the coast of Italy, many  trying to flee from ISIS  – my thoughts turn from myself to the world. Perhaps it’s because I watched the TV show “A.D.” last night, about how Jesus told the disciples to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15). Or maybe it’s because I am finishing my next book, The Runaway Prophet, a modern-day novel based on the Book of Jonah, in which Islamic State terrorists invade Las Vegas (the new Nineveh). I have always been fascinated by the Middle East, since it is where civilization and religion all started. But what can I, a middle-aged, working American woman, do to help? I know fear isn’t the answer. So prayer comes to mind. Real, heartfelt prayer for world peace. Because our lives – and the lives of our children and grandchildren – depend on it.