Last summer, I traveled to Milan, Italy, to spend a month doing research. Two days after I arrived, I stopped to purchase a phone card at a newspaper kiosk. As I was paying for the card, I realized that my billfold was gone.
The kiosk attendant and I searched the kiosk thoroughly, but the billfold was nowhere to be found. Not only was I upset by the loss, but it seemed just one more incident in a string of bad things that had happened during this trip.
I called a Christian Science practitioner and asked him to pray with me. I poured out the story, explaining that things had been going awry ever since I had arrived. I admitted that I wanted to return home to the United States because the project seemed doomed to failure, even though it was being supported by a generous grant. The practitioner suggested that we consider the statement "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God" (Science and Health, p. 254). This reminded me that I could never be outside of God's care, no matter where I was.
