My wife and I had taken our small, young family, consisting of a kindergartner and a second grader, to The Hague, Netherlands, for a year, as I was on assignment as an exchange teacher. One day, the school nurse and the principal appeared at my classroom door and motioned for me to approach. The nurse informed me that my eight-year-old son had fallen on the playground, and that they had called an ambulance to take him to the emergency room.
I was invited to ride along, while the principal took over my fifth-grade class. During the trip in the ambulance, the nurse held my son’s front teeth in place. My wife, who worked several part-time jobs, was not immediately available.
I was raised a Christian Scientist, attending Sunday School and Wednesday evening testimony meetings throughout my childhood. My wife started attending with me while we were dating in high school, but both of us drifted away after our marriage. Yet, I had been feeling a great spiritual yearning within me during our time in the Netherlands, which was fed by a gift subscription from my parents to The Herald of Christian Science and The Christian Science Monitor.
