My “village” is Christian Science

I was visiting a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in another state, and after the Sunday service, I was walking out to the parking lot and didn’t see the last step. As I was falling toward the gravel, I mentally protested, “No! There is no fallen man.”

Right in the middle of the fall, I caught myself. However, my ankle had twisted and was very painful to walk on. I made it to the car, and while I was sitting there, someone from church came and knocked on the window. He asked if I would come and talk with his wife, who was waiting on the sidewalk. (He hadn’t noticed that anything had happened.) I walked back to see her, not very conscious of pain, though there was some discomfort and awkwardness in walking.

The man’s wife expressed gratitude for and enthusiasm about an article I’d written several years ago that she said she kept on her reading table and often referred to and read. When she had learned that I was visiting that day, she wanted to thank me.