“Meep, meep!” Cue the Acme rocket as Wile E. Coyote launches himself after the Road Runner . . . only to smack into a mountainside. Again.

Chuck Jones fans around the world will recognize the coyote as the cartoon character who hurtles from one calamity to another, only to bounce back in the very next scene. That image actually offers some perspective (and perhaps a smile) for today. Jones once wrote, “There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is the willingness to think” (chuckjones.com). So we might ask, Are evil, disaster, and sickness inevitable if we are willing to think—and to pray?

These days, the crescendo in public discussion and charting of upward spikes in crises, disease, and death reinforces a prevalent notion: The worst is yet to come, and there’s little, if anything, we can do about it. But what if instead we take this as a call to be willing to deepen our own commitment to thoughtful prayer?