PROVIDENCE: Lisa Beamer, widow of Flight 93 hero Todd, has written on a memorial-foundation web site and in at least one religious pamphlet about her faith in God and her belief that providence put her husband on the plane where he died.

Providence? Isn’t that the thing that people thank when good things happen, but politely ignore when bad things happen? You know, the “God made me miss my flight–too bad so many other people didn’t get the divine heads-up!” thing?

Beamer’s belief in providence is far stronger and more Christian. A Christian belief in providence holds that God may call some people to heroism; some to tragedy; some to a long littleness of a life. Everyone, no matter how many trinkets we can extract from the pinata of life, is called to holiness. Sometimes that means you miss a flight, and use your escape as a wake-up call, a signal that you need to change your life. Sometimes that means you just barely make it to the gate on time, and are in the middle of thanking God for your good timing when the first hijacker rises from his seat. I won’t try to explain why some people are called in one way and some in another; nobody can explain that. But we should at least remember what providence doesn’t mean. God’s providence often sends suffering, ill luck, or death. It takes strength to affirm that when it happens to you–which is why Lisa may be as much a hero, in God’s eyes, as her husband.