Since the day I admitted Christian Science into my life as the only healing and saving influence, I have had the opportunity daily to demonstrate its healing and saving power. For this reason I must bear witness to this fact and express gratitude for our Leader, who brought to the world this Science, unveiling the Christ, which is, as well as my personal Saviour, the Saviour of all mankind.
Chronic illness was part of my childhood experience. An extended period in bed each winter was an expected part of my homelife, and weeks of missed schooling due to colds, influenza, and ear trouble were considered normal in this medical atmosphere. I recall reading a few passages from a Bible my grandmother had given me during one of these periods, and this reading comforted me.
Years later, while I was in college, a required course in Bible history further stirred my interest in the Bible when professors were unable to answer my questions or dismissed them with the answer, "We are not supposed to know that." I knew that there must be a key to the Scriptures. I thought, "If the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then we should be able to understand and prove this Word."
Time passed. I met the girl who was to become my wife. She possessed many fine qualities to which I was attracted. These qualities were undoubtedly brought into focus for me because she was a Christian Scientist. I knew that Christian Science was what I had been looking for. I had found the key to the Scriptures. I had found a new way of life.
Christian Science met a great need in my experience. I was an Army aviator engaged in flying for the purpose of instructing student pilots and test-flying aircraft that had been overhauled or repaired. I found myself in a position of necessity to lean daily on the presence of the Christ, which is ours, whether we are in the air or on the ground. We can always feel this presence when we turn to it for guidance and safety. In ten years of flying activity every need was met.
One year a loss of hearing was detected in one ear during a required physical examination. I was grounded, and a recheck was scheduled later in the day. I called a Christian Science practitioner during the noon hour, and the beliefs of my childhood illness and predictions by physicians regarding my hearing were denied. I passed the recheck perfectly that afternoon. Each year thereafter, during the physical examination, my hearing checked satisfactorily. The healing has been permanent.
While flying to an air base in West Germany near the East German border a few years ago I became disoriented. My passenger, a high-ranking military officer, became alarmed, as well he might, for an accidental crossing of this border might have created an international incident. As I directed the aircraft to a new heading, I turned my thought entirely to God and His protective being. Could there be a lost idea of God? Impossible. I found myself quietly praying in the words of Mrs. Eddy's poem "'Feed My Sheep'" (Poems, p. 14),
Shepherd, show me how to go
O'er the hillside steep,
How to gather, how to sow,—
How to feed Thy sheep.
After we had flown a few more minutes, my passenger tapped me on the shoulder and said, "We're right over the base; good job!" And so we were.
The insistence of my wife in the matter of attendance at her yearly association meeting brought about a beautiful demonstration. I had received military orders to go to Europe for a three-year tour of duty, and we had been assigned a home there. My wife's association meeting was to take place at the time that we were scheduled to sail. At first we were told that a delay in her travel orders would cause a cancellation of our housing in Europe and would necessitate her traveling at her own expense if she wished to join me there.
After prayerful consideration we decided to take our stand for Principle and submit the delayed travel request. To our great joy the Department of the Army issued delayed travel orders to both of us, with no penalty incurred concerning the housing. This meant that I then had time to have primary class instruction in Christian Science, which has been daily an inspiration to me. This inspiration has guided me out of military life into a life of work for our beloved Cause.
What could be richer than a life begun in doubt and fear and sickness becoming through Christian Science a life of progress toward perfect health, happiness, and holiness!— Kansas City, Missouri.
