A few years after graduating from high school, I found life to be empty of promise. I was alone working on the road as a musician, and I had also been pursuing an unchristian path in life that presented no answers to all the questions that were tugging at my sleeves. I carried a copy of the textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, inside my suitcase as if it were a first-aid kit in a glass box with hammer attached; although the book was never read, it was ready to be used in an emergency.
As a child I had been a regular student in the Christian Science Sunday School, but later, Saturday-night music jobs gave me an excuse not to get up Sunday morning. I had been convinced of the simple but profound truths of divine Science and was familiar with the healing and comforting thoughts in Science and Health. However, when I began to read the book anew, it was not comforting as before. Some of the passages I read were disturbing. I even threw the book across the room at one point! But a "still small voice" bade me to go pick it up, for what I had read was the truth of spiritual being, whether I liked it or not.
A year later I was studying daily the Bible Lessons found in the Christian Science Quarterly and attending a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. During that time I wondered if I should leave the music business. It seemed full of immorality and temptations. But by prayerfully listening for God's direction, I quickly saw the need to face evil beliefs and heal them rather than to run from them. The Bible and Science and Health had become my best friends, giving me the courage to confront evil.
