When our 'normal' world is shaken, we have to have as our bedrock something more firm than daily routines or social networks.

The first casualty in the communities affected by Katrina was trust. The disaster not only inspired a culture of blame among civic leaders; it also led to mistrust among people who had previously been neighbours.

Social order is a thin veneer at the best of times and never moreso than when people are struggling to hold their emotions and families together, trying desperately just to survive.

We normally go about our daily lives assuming that certain constants will remain, well, constant. We set out to make a positive contribution in our work and enjoy our time at play, without giving much thought to what happens if our sense of normality should be disrupted.

In fact, our 'normal' world can be turned on its head with surprising suddenness. Sadly, the London bombings, last year's Asian tsunami and the recent hurricanes have all served to remind us of this fact.

It is during these times of shock or unexpected hardship that we need to have as our bedrock something more firm than daily routines or social networks.

The biblical apostle Peter, the man who knew much about suffering, reminded us of the fickleness of life in this fallen world. 'All men are like grass,' he wrote, 'and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.'(1)

Peter also offered a word of hope to those who must endure the unexpected. 'The grass withers and the flowers fall,' he continued, 'but the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.'

The word of the Lord to which he refers is, of course, the Christian gospel, the good news about Jesus.

There are times when only faith in the unseen can lift us above the troubles we see; when only trusting the intangible can carry us through the pain we feel so strongly; when only hope born of spiritual assurance can help us overcome natural insecurity.

Faith is not blind trust: it is trusting in something which cannot be seen yet is nevertheless very real -- the integrity, character and compassion of our God who is, according to Jesus, first and foremost a Father.

In the face of disasters like Katrina, people on the ground need more than platitudes about faith. They need help just to make it through each day. It's the same for any of us who are faced with a sudden shock.

Faith on its own will not be enough to keep us alive or to protect our families in an emergency situation; we will need natural answers to immediate needs. But faith will surely carry us through the shock and trauma which can threaten to last much longer.

Once our immediate needs are met, a sense of frailty will often remain - unless our lives are rebuilt on a faith in something greater than 'business as usual'.

Strong and lasting hope is born when our faith is in something greater than everyday routines and what we call normality.

(1) 1 Peter 1:24-25 (New International Version)