On the last day of my university years, there was an explosion and fire in the laboratory where I was working with other students and the professor to extract oil from soybeans. I had first-, second-, and third-degree burns covering 35 percent of my body. My arms had been soaked in solvent before the explosion, and my face and arms were completely burned. Three of my friends also had widespread burns, and fourteen other people, including the professor, had less extensive but still serious burns.
While waiting to be admitted to the hospital, I repeated over and over “the scientific statement of being,” which begins: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 468). Although my understanding of the statement was not advanced, I hoped deeply that the truth in it would make a difference. I understood that this experience was unreal—an illusion—as I had learned in Christian Science that accidents are unknown to God, who always governs His creation in perfect harmony.
In the hospital, the burned areas were cleaned and bandaged. I declined to take pills for pain, which was very intense, but I handled it with God’s help. When my father visited me in the hospital the first night, I asked him to contact a Christian Science practitioner, who agreed to pray with me. My family read the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons to me every day, and the families of my friends prayed in their own way.
