IT WAS A HOT AFTERNOON, and my fourteen-year-old son, Andrew, and I were outside doing yard work. Andrew was mowing the lawn while I pulled weeds. When the lawn mower ran out of gas, Andrew went to get the gas can to refill it. When he tried to pour in the gas, however, he discovered that the yellow pouring tube had a stopper in it. Just as I was walking over to help him, he pulled the stopper out with his teeth, and the gasoline, which must have expanded in the heat, burst out of the tube directly into his eyes and nose.
We were both shocked—and scared. As I ran to get the hose to wash him off, I prayed out loud. I assured Andrew that God was right there with him, protecting and caring for him every minute. Nothing could separate him from God's love.
Andrew has attended a Christian Science Sunday School since he was young, so these kinds of ideas were familiar to him. More than that, though, he'd seen their application and power in his life in the past, and so I knew that the truth about God's love would reach him this time, too.
