Testimony of Healing January 27, 2003 Issue

Safe—even in a combat zone

with contributions from Marc T. Straub, Judy L. Straub

As a helicopter pilot in South Vietnam in 1969, I was often required to fly my ship into the middle of raging battles. I was a member of the 158th Assault Helicopter Battalion, Company B, which flew air support for the 101st Airborne Infantry Division, transporting soldiers and supplies into combat zones day and night, regardless of weather. There was no room for mistakes.

Maintaining my fearlessness, calmness, and confidence during extreme danger was absolutely necessary to my safety, and to help with this I studied the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, especially Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, whenever I could. This concentrated study throughout my tour of duty had a profound effect on the well-being of the crew members and passengers on my ship, as well as on me.

I learned how important it was for me to follow the advice Mary Baker Eddy gave to Christian Scientists: ". . . keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. . . . Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 210). My reading of Science and Health was making it clear to me that the "error" spoken of was not really a person, a place, or a thing. Error is never part of God's creation. And I refused to give evils of thought—such as hate and revenge—a place in my thinking. These thoughts are what are erroneous. Keeping my "thought so filled with Truth and Love" ensured that my mind would remain uncontaminated and innocent.