I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS A VERY LITTLE BOY, as I was doing the dishes one day, inadvertently I stepped on my dog's toe. He yelped, but then looked up and forgave me immediately. I was kind of struck by what I saw, and it started me wondering. I knew that all sorts of tests could be done on that dog's brain, but that kind of immediate forgiveness and love couldn't be found in gray matter under a skull bone. There was more to the dog than what I was seeing. That is when I began to suspect that we all have a spiritual identity.
Just a couple of months later, quite a significant—actually, life-changing—event occurred. My father and I were skiing up on Sandia Peak, a ski area near our home in Albuquerque. This was a long time ago, and ski equipment wasn't designed as well then as it is now. As I was traversing the hill, I fell. My ski spun completely around, and the binding failed to release. I remember lying there in the snow crying, and seeing a ski patrolman stop right near me. Through my tears, I tried to ask him to turn my ski back around. He wouldn't do that, of course, concerned that he might further injure me. Finally, they got my ski off, and my father transported me down the hill and quickly got me into our car. I still was crying and saw that my leg was bent at a funny angle.
Although we'd only learned of Christian Science about three months prior to this, my father and I felt comfortable turning to prayer right away for healing. My father took me home instead of to a doctor. I remember so well sitting on our living room floor with my leg on pillow. My brother was there, too, watching television. But my father was praying—I could see it in his face. I remember him praying quietly, in addition to reading the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
