Article February 28, 2005 Issue

AS GOOD [AND AS WELL] AS IT GETS

Sometimes our role in healing is to trust prayer and not quit.

By Rod Carlson

I WAS SICK AND DESPERATE. EVEN THE slightest movement was agony. I was barely able to pick up the telephone to call for help from a man I'd met at the local branch Church of Christ, Scientist, who was serving as a Christian Science Armed Services Representative.

I was a Marine lieutenant in Navy flight school at Pensacola, Florida. Once I had the representative on the phone, I explained that I was, at best, an average flight student, and that tomorrow I was scheduled for my advanced instrument flight check—quite possibly a pass or washout event. I told him that I had either food poisoning or the flu, that I felt weak and very ill, and that I wanted him to pray for me.

He said that he was about to leave for a dinner engagement, but that he'd pray for me before leaving and again when he returned. He suggested that I trust everything to God and go to bed, which I did.