Recently a student of Christian Science was entrusted with a commission which involved obtaining the permission of certain government authorities to proceed with an export project. Although application had been made for this permission on four previous occasions, it had always been refused. The reason given for the refusal seemed incomprehensible to the company making the application.

The first thought of the student when asked to undertake this mission was that with God everything is possible. He then examined the project to see if it would result in blessing to all concerned and be productive only of good. Convinced that it would, the student found comfort in the truth that he of himself could do nothing, but that God bestows infinite intelligence on man.

As soon as his business associates learned that permission was to be sought again, this time by means of a personal visit, the student was reminded of the saving that "it isn't what you know, but whom you know that counts." The student rejected the wrong implications of this statement and reminded himself that it was Jesus' knowing of the truths of perfect God and perfect man which brought about his marvelous and instantaneous healings of sin and sickness.

The student boarded the plane the next morning, carrying his business papers and, of vastly greater importance, a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, as well as a copy of the current issue of the Christian Science Sentinel. During the trip he read and pondered the truths contained in the textbook and the Sentinel. It became clear to him that knowing the truths of God and man. His image and likeness, brings about right results. He saw that since God, divine Mind, cannot know any failure, man, as the idea of Mind, cannot fail.

Although his business associates had in all friendliness advised him to see certain people who might help him "swing the deal," the student decided, when the plane landed, that he would let God lead him: and he determined that in all his dealings he would see the man of God's creating, obedient and responsive to His will.

Holding fast to these truths, the student was led to call on the person who on four previous occasions had rejected the application. A short and pleasant conversation ensued during which the government's representative explained why the project had been disapproved. Then the student carefully explained the real objective of the project, and immediately he was informed that the previous rejections had been based on an erroneous estimate of the end use of the materials involved. The government representative then offered to help undo the delay and personally took the student to another government section, where the promise of immediate approval was obtained.

When the student of Christian Science returned with the good news, he learned for the first time that one of the officers of the company had tried to convince the others that any further efforts would be useless. This officer was amazed at the success of the mission; and when he learned that the approval had been obtained through regular channels without any attempt to secure the assistance of influential people, he was even more astounded.

In the third chapter of Acts is recorded the first apostolic miracle, use healing of the lame man at "the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful." When the people saw the man walking, "they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him." We read that "when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people. Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?"

Christian Science can show us how to solve all our problems when we acknowledge and understand that the power of God is not limited to overcoming this or that erroneous condition but that, as our inspired Leader tells us in Science and Health (p. 243): "Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no sense of hatred. Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God."

It is indeed wonderful to understand that it is more important to know the truth than to know certain persons. Truth unlocks many doors which can be opened in no other way. God is omnipotent, and there is no other power. God is omnipresent; therefore His all-power is ever with us. God is omniscient; therefore He knows all our needs, and supplies them because He is Love. Mrs. Eddy assures us in Science and Health (p. 494): "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good." There is no equivocation about these statements. They are very definite and include "every human need." The word "always," which is used twice, gives emphasis to the immediacy of Love's supply, whether it be in the business world or elsewhere.