The spring of 1978 found my wife and me teaching English at a small engineering college in Iran. The only hint at that time of the approaching revolution in that country was that our students were becoming rather obstreperous in the classroom and antagonistic to the school administration.
Intuition led my wife to get herself and our two children to the United States in the autumn of 1978. I returned to my job in Iran with several books on Christian Science that I had recently acquired. By mid-October, disturbances had reached such a pitch that Americans on the staff were advised to stay at our college-provided homes until it was safe to return to our teaching duties.
For me this was an unanticipated benefit. I had been wondering when I would ever find time to read my new literature on Christian Science. Seizing this opportunity, I plunged in. I read not only the daily Bible Lessons but also Science and Health, Prose Works, and the Manual of The Mother Church, by Mrs. Eddy, as well as biographies about her. During this five-month period of study and "waiting out" the revolution, a chronic back difficulty disappeared and has never returned.
During this time, postal and telephone communication with the outside world broke down. At one point, I took three months' pay to a bank and had it converted into United States dollars in the form of a bank draft made out to my wife. The very next day that bank closed its doors for the remainder of the revolution. A week or so later, however, when the American Embassy in Teheran sent a plane to my town to evacuate my colleagues and other Americans, I was able to give the bank draft to the pilot, who promised to get it to my wife.
By this time I was beginning to understand that the power of divine Truth, God, works in wondrous ways.
I never succeeded in getting a phone call through to the States during that period, but in the wee hours of one morning I was startled by the ringing of my telephone. It turned out to be my wife. She had simply dialed the number and the call somehow went through. That happened only once. She mentioned that the check had just arrived. By this time I was beginning to understand that the power of divine Truth, God, works in wondrous ways.
More than 40,000 Americans had departed the country by March of 1979. I would have left also, had not a local leader requested me to stay on the job. He promised that I would be protected. My daily prayer and study of Christian Science kept my courage up during the nastier part of the revolution. When classes finally reconvened in mid-March, to the best of my knowledge I was one of only two native-born American men in town.
The students in my classes were punctual, attentive, and cooperative. This was remarkable, for America was being dubbed the "Great Satan," and few Iranians at that time and place would have openly declared goodwill toward Americans. But my students must have sensed my regard for them—a care that was daily nourished by my study of Christian Science—for they treated me with kindness and respect. In July of 1979 I left on vacation, intending to return in September.
That summer an unexpected position opened up at a university in Saudi Arabia. I had fully expected to return to Iran, but my family prevailed upon me not to. So I sent my résumé to this university, well past the deadline, and was offered a position. As a consequence, I was directing a language program on the other side of the Gulf (opposite Iran) when the American Embassy in Teheran fell hostage.
That winter, after a good deal of thought and prayer, I applied to a Christian Science teacher in the United Kingdom for class instruction in Christian Science. We arranged for an interview. When I arrived in downtown London I suddenly heard my name being called. I turned, and there was an old friend whom I had not seen for years. We enjoyed a brief reunion and I said goodbye, but not before he invited me to apply for a position at the United Arab Emirates University, where he had just been appointed vice-chancellor. I gratefully accepted his invitation, and our family settled there one year later, after I had fulfilled my contract with my employer in Saudi Arabia. Since that time, as human needs and challenges have come up, they have been healed one by one; and goodness and mercy have accompanied me everywhere.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
