G-d is in the Headlines

The chicken soup is simmering and I've started another pot boiling for the corned beef. It's hot in the kitchen, but it's a perfect time to make some "Shana Tova" (hapy new year) calls. Unfortunately, of course, I cannot find my cell phone, so I just ran down to find it.
Well, I see it's not in my office, but I noticed on my computer screen that the headlines on http://www.jpost.com/ are crawling by pretty quickly. The oven time says 14:55 more minutes, so I've just time to take a peek at the news.
And you know what... one glance at the headlines has brought the coming holiday ever more into focus in my head. Rosh Hashana, we pray for a year of LIFE!! - good health, happiness, prosperity, safety. As parents, we pray for our children's future – a good education, a worthy spouse, good friends and self-esteem. We have so many things we pray for individually, as a nation, and as a member of the family of nations - an end to poverty, food for the needy, safety, peace, brotherhood, all those glowing values that our children sing about in third grade!
All these blessings really can be granted us by Hashem, our Father in Heaven.
This morning Hashem reminded me to think of the bigger picture.
We pray that Hashem grants us life this year.
** China: 34 rescued from oil platform accident
** FBI: Flight lands in Los Angeles after bomb threat – B"H, the Thai Airways flight landed safely in a remote area of the airport and G-d has granted life to 200 passengers and crew that will return to their families.
** Arava Valley: SUV rolls over; 3 injured, I moderate. They're in the hospital in Eilat recovering, B"H.
We pray for simple things like a roof over our heads. We may think this is simple, but our brethren from Gush Katif are still waiting to have real homes, meanwhile living in cardboard caravillas. And thousands around the world are homeless too from one disaster or another. The latest:
** Weeks of rains leave thousands homeless in Mexico – Jpost reported that tens of thousands of people had abandoned their homes after weeks of torrential rains with more to come!!
We pray for the safety of our family, our children, our friends. After years of terror, and lately – bloody weeks that have taken the lives of Jewish mothers, fathers, husbands in Arab terror attacks, we see that we must intensify our prayers for safety for our loved ones. Just this morning:
** Mortar lands by Shaar Hanegev school; no injuries reported (B"H, the kassams hit 30 minutes before school started). B"H, Hashem has saved His people once again from Arab terrorism and attack. May we continue to pray for His Divine Protection. We pray fervently that our brethren in the Negev and Sderot have a peaceful and holy Rosh Hashana.
** Israeli universities receive world lower rating. We hope and pray that our children will grow up healthy and go to university so that they can make a better world for their family and mankind. Meanwhile, Jpost reported that The Hebrew University in Jerusalem ranked 109th in the world, dropping from its 102nd spot last year. Tel Aviv University also dropped from the 114th spot to 138th. The Technion listed at 159th compared to its 132nd spot in 2009. Oy.
There's more to say, but the oven is ringing. Gotta go back to Rosh Hashana preparations.
Once again, my best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy, prosperous, safe new year.
If you ever wonder if G-d (to whom we pray on Rosh Hashana and hopefully every day) really exists, just read the news. He's there in every story.