Quandary

I saw a news segment about Prayer and the Sichuan Earthquake that got me thinking (before I begin, let me say that I'm not trying to disparage anyone's religious views or beliefs here; I'm simply making an observation).

In the report, several interviewed prayer groups said that they've been praying night and day for the earthquakes to stop. It reminded me of an old dilemma that I've never been able to figure out.

Traditionally, there've been 3 schools of thoughts in terms of God and Bad Things Happening:

1) There is no God
2) There is a God but He doesn't meddle in the affairs of Man.
3) There is a God and everything happens according to His will.

So the conundrum goes like this: something bad happens and people pray to God in hopes that it will stop. But looking at all 3 of the above options, prayer seems to be rather futile because:

1) If there is no God, obviously praying won't do any good.
2) If God is strictly an overseer, He won't interfere in our affairs, thus making prayers ineffective.
3) If everything happens according to God's will, then the occurrence of the Bad Event was part of His plan, meaning no matter what Man prays for, the outcome will remain the same.

So it seems that prayers that wish for an action to happen are somewhat hopeless. Yet, it would be wrong to say that praying is completely worthless. Back in primary school, one of my teachers very wisely taught us that we shouldn't ask for a specific outcome or object in our prayers (e.g. praying to pass an exam or praying that it won't rain tomorrow) but rather we should pray for metaphysical things like strength and peace of mind. So taking the Sichuan Earthquake as an example, instead of praying for the earthquakes and flooding to stop, we should pray that the survivors find the strength to face their coming challenges; that the families of those lost will find peace; and that those of us lucky enough to be unaffected will continue our compassion for our fellow man.

Just my humble observation and opinion.