Holding it together...

I'm interested in the prayer of Paul in Colossians 1:9-12, whereby he asks that the Colossians would be given the capacity to endure the unendurable (as Eugene Peterson puts it in "The Message" translation of the Bible).

And then, just a few short verses later, we come to discover that it is Christ, the founder of the feast that is our universe who, "holds all things together" (Colossians 1:18). I'm wondering what this phrase means? My enquires have taken me on a journey to consider the relationship between science and the Bible, but none of what I've read in either science or theology helps me really understand with any clarity this bit about Christ holding it all together. Is this just a way of saying that He's sovereign? Does it mean that He's involved in every minute detail of the ongoing activities of the universe? (Jesus did say elsewhere that not even a bird dies without God knowing it).

I'm wondering of His sustenaning power in the universe is the same sustaining power that we have at our disposal when we're called to 'endure the unendurable'? (Perhaps you should watch "To End all Wars" if you want a great example of enduring in this way).

Anyway... 'holding it together' is the topic. What does it mean for us? What does it mean that Christ does that for the whole universe?