Richard,

***What I do not understand is why god has to resort to such means. That is why I postulate that god, if one exists, is quite weak and has to resort to extreme measures to acxcomplish anything.***

I don't see it as God who is resorting. Rather, brute fact of events lead to disasters, etc. What God does is set the boundary conditions as to what cannot happen and also what must happen. There may be many other worlds where events are quite different, but those worlds have their own unique events which are required to occur.

That's not to say that God cannot act in our lives as a personal God to us. I think it is quite possible that prayers can be at least considered in how and when God intervenes. It is part of the equation if you will. It is not that God favors people who pray as some type of teacher's pets, rather I believe that prayer changes the routing toward accomplishing God's divine plan. Hence, prayer can sometimes make all the difference in the way that natural events play themselves out. That's my own personal belief.

Warm regards, Harv