I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the many blessings that have come to me through the study and application of Christian Science.

I have been healed instantaneously of severe burns caused by the explosion of a box of matches, of influenza, and many other physical ailments. While working in the yard, I caught my finger under a sledge and severed the ligament which controls the fingers, besides cutting the flesh to the bone. I am grateful to testify that this injury, which, according to the belief of some, would have rendered my finger useless, was entirely healed, and I have the normal use of the finger.

For the past ten years I have been a private airplane pilot. Over two years ago I had an occasion to fly a distance of three hundred miles, in connection with my business. Upon completing my transaction, I went to another city, on further business. As this errand was completed rather late in the afternoon, I decided to fly to Waco, Texas, to spend the night with friends. Waco was only forty-five minutes away, and since I had two hours' supply of gasoline, I did not trouble to fill up. This part of the trip was made late in the afternoon. I was absorbed with the success of my day's work and did not pay a great deal of attention to my navigation. I was flying at a height of approximately five thousand feet, and after I had been up some forty minutes, I noticed that the sun was setting and Waco was not in sight. In a few minutes more it began to get dark.

Thinking I would sight my destination in a few more minutes, I kept on. But a few minutes later it was completely dark, and still no town was in sight. I suddenly realized that I was in a difficult predicament. Although I had been flying for a number of years, I had never had any night flying experience; and, on top of that, I was completely lost and the night was pitch dark. The airplane seemed to be doing everything but flying rightly, and all my instruments seemed to be wrong. I had in the ship, as an aid to navigation, what is known as a radio compass, which when tuned in to any given radio station has instruments on the dial which if followed will carry the plane directly to that station. I did not know the wave length of Waco. By this time many towns had lighted up below me, but this seemed only to add to my confusion. All the time the thought tried to take possession of my consciousness that I could not do what I was trying to do. Then the Science that I had learned began to wake me up. I reasoned that, while I knew nothing of night flying, I knew something about God and my relation to Him, that He knows all there is to know, and was in full control of the situation.

While reasoning thus, I had forgotten the ship, but in a moment my thoughts became very clear. All sense of fear left me, and words cannot express the peace that came over me. Then it came to me that I knew the wave length of Fort Worth and that I could tune in to that station. From then on the ride surpassed any I had had in beauty and smoothness. The towns below me seemed like jewels. Although I did not know if I had sufficient gasoline to reach my new destination, I did know that the decision was not mine but God's, and I went joyfully on. While I was immediately over the business section of Fort Worth, was flying at an altitude of about five thousand feet, and was still several miles from the airport, I ran out of gas. I glanced over my shoulder to the southwest part of the town and noticed that there were no lights in that section, so I headed for this spot. On my way down, the suggestion came, You can't see a landing field. But the "still small voice" of Truth immediately quieted this with the thought, You will not need one until you get there. Just before I reached the ground, a long, narrow, gray strip of terrain, bordered on both sides with darker foliage, opened up in front of me directly in my line of flight. No correction of my controls was necessary, although I had only one glimpse of this long strip. The ship came gently in contact with the ground, and rolled without a disturbance of any kind about one quarter of a mile to a stop. I, of course, was perfectly safe, and the ship had not the slightest scratch. The next day it was discovered that my landing field was a hilltop. The grass had been turned gray by the fall of the year, and the surrounding dark strips I had noticed were oak trees in the canyon surrounding this hill.

This proof that divine Love never fails us has been a constant source of inspiration to me in problems that have arisen since this experience.

For a number of years I was a slave to the appetite for alcoholic drinks, and I have been completely released from this false desire.

I am grateful to my heavenly Father for awakening me to the truth, and to our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, for standing faithfully by her revelation that it might be given to the world. I am also grateful for membership in The Mother Church and in a branch church, and for the part that I, as a Christian Scientist, can have in the world during this time of upheaval.—Alan T. Strong, Graham, Texas.