Many years ago, I was sailing with some friends off the coast of Long Island, New York, when a sudden fog came in. One moment, everything was clear; the next, the world was invisible. Gone. The captain of the boat asked me to sit in the bow and help him watch for boats or other obstacles. The rest of the group went below to pray—and the captain and I both appreciated those prayers. Naturally, he had charts—this was before the days of advanced electronic navigation systems—but in the fog, only our wits and everyone's prayers could guide us safely back to port. And they did.
Sometimes, life can seem a lot like that interlude in the fog. And the usual charts—a friend's advice, self-help programs, what someone did "the last time this happened"—don't always work. What then? Mary Baker Eddy, who established this magazine, referred to the Bible as "the chart of life, where the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out." Science and Health, p. 24. It's a different kind of chart—one that has been road tested by people for centuries and has provided help, inspiration, strength, and healing, even when everything looked hopeless.
Mrs. Eddy's trust in the Scriptures led to a healing that proved to be a chart for her life—one that not only restored her to health after a life-threatening injury, but also led to her discovery of Christian Science.
