Living Christian Science Today May 22, 2014

The shark in the stream

Paulette de Fere Van Vranken

An article titled “The shark we saved,” written by William Deane and published in the April 19, 2010, Sentinel, concludes: “When God’s law of love overcomes fear, the predator can become the graceful creature it’s made to be.” Those words proved true in my experience when, later that year, I had my own encounter with a shark while walking on the beach near my house.

I was walking along the inlet that leads from the bay to a salt pond. As I followed the stream, I suddenly saw something black moving in the water. Of course, I wondered what it was, and, when I stopped to get a better look, I saw a bluish-black fish about three or four feet in length. Then I saw its dorsal fin and knew that it was a shark. I immediately realized that this shark was trying to swim against the incoming tide in order to get back to the saltwater bay. The water he was in was only about a foot deep, and brackish—he could not survive in it. I knew that I had to do something to help.

I should mention that during this whole experience I felt God, divine Mind, guiding both me and the shark. I wouldn’t otherwise have become involved in a situation with a potentially dangerous animal—but because I knew that God was directing my actions, I had no fear for my own safety or for the shark’s safety. I really felt that I had been placed exactly where I needed to be and exactly at the right time in order to help one of His creatures.

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