A FEW YEARS AGO, I experienced the powerful and immediate healing effect of Christian Science prayer. At a high school where I used to work, I was privileged to help coach the junior varsity track team. On a hot midspring Saturday morning I helped put on a small track meet with just our own junior varsity team competing. It was a lighthearted and competitive atmosphere where our younger athletes could learn about the nuances and basic structure of a track meet and try some new events.
Just for fun, another coach and I each joined a relay team for the final event of the meet. I have long been a regular runner, and was looking forward to racing around the track with the kids. The temperatures that day were forecast to reach past 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and as I stood eagerly waiting to run my leg of the race, I noticed how hot it had gotten outside. But when the baton came closer to me I forgot about temperature and refocused on having fun and expressing childlike enthusiasm while I ran.
Bolting around the track as fast as I could, I crossed the finish line with a speedy time. Although the race was hard, I felt great afterward. But a little later, as I was cleaning up from the meet and talking with some friends, I began to feel lightheaded and was quickly losing the ability to stand. My friends there were also Christian Scientists, and, as I stumbled over to a fence, I called for someone to pray for me. One of them rushed over to help me, and I collapsed in his arms. He immediately began declaring that God was present with me at that very moment. As I listened to him, I couldn't move or speak and it felt like my body was completely shutting down. I was fighting to stay conscious.
