When I was in high school, I had quite a serious back problem. I stayed in the hospital for over a year, the first ten months of which I was in bed in a body cast.

Upon my release, a doctor told me that I would pretty much be able to resume my regular activities, but that I should avoid doing anything that could jolt my back, such as gymnastics, trampoline workouts, or skydiving. Needless to say, I assured him that there was no cause for concern.

Four years later, I began to date a young woman in college, who introduced me to Christian Science Organization meetings, and I found these Tuesday night gatherings to be a refreshing oasis in the middle of my week.

That summer, I took a job with a lumber mill in a small town in northern Colorado. This work tied in with my college studies in wood technology. As a present, my girlfriend gave me a copy of Science and Health to take with me. On the inside of the jacket, she quoted a statement that a Christian Science practitioner had once made: "It's better to study and ponder than to read and wander."

Since I had no TV in my room and there were few activities in the little town where I was staying, I decided to read Science and Health, budgeting myself 15 pages each night, and resolved to carefully ponder what I was reading. I figured that when it was time to return to school, I would have read the whole book.

From the beginning, I soaked up every idea and spiritual truth like a sponge. With each turn of the page, many statements resonated with me. In particular, one that stood out was, "There is no power apart from God" (p. 228). I found this such a comforting and uplifting idea.

I had never thought of myself as being superstitious, but I did find that I indulged the superstition learned in childhood about not stepping on the cracks in a sidewalk. I always reacted with extreme annoyance if I did. After learning that idea about God's allness from Science and Health, I realized that I was giving those cracks a certain power over me. I felt such a sense of relief and acknowledgment that God was the only power, and that those sidewalk cracks could cause me no problem. This baseless concern never bothered me again, and just disappeared from thought.

I treasured what I was gaining from my study and the change in my outlook it forwarded. When I cut timber with a crew up in the mountains, I began to see both my surroundings and my fellow workers as expressions of God's goodness. When I saw the breathtaking mountain vistas and forests, and observed elk or pronghorn antelope on the range, I gratefully acknowledged the beauty of His creation.

During the second half of the summer, I worked in the mill operating various large saws, cutting the logs into lumber. One of my jobs was to stand behind a saw, and as the lumber came out of it and rolled toward me, I would separate the boards from the trimmed edge pieces. I stood in front of a spinning power roller that carried these edge pieces away and dropped them into a pit behind me where a conveyor carried them to a chipper.

One afternoon, a large piece of lumber hit my leg and knocked me backward onto the spinning roller. In an instant, I was thrown into the air and over the roller. Although it happened quickly, I remember very distinctly declaring to myself in mid-flight, "There is no power apart from God."

Seconds later, it was almost as if I was falling through the air in slow motion. I landed in the pit squarely on my back, not hitting anything along the way. As concerned workers rushed to my aid, I climbed up and out, dusted myself off, and after assuring them that I was fine, resumed my work. There was absolutely no pain or stiffness, and no ill effects later on.

I realized that any lingering fear I might have had about reinjuring my back had completely disappeared. How profoundly grateful I was to God for His protection. Through my reading, study, and prayer that summer, I felt saturated with God's love. My thought had been lifted to a higher sense that was receptive to the truth that we can never be outside of His care.

What a priceless gift my college sweet-heart—now my wife—gave me. I continue to be in awe of the spiritual understanding and insights unlocked in the pages of Science and Health.

ANDY ROCKWOOD
SHERBORN, MASSACHUSETTS, US