Testimony of Healing July 7, 2008 Issue

QUICK HEALING AFTER BIKE CRASH

ROB NOFSINGER

Last summer, just before beginning a short triathlon—swim, bike, run—my buddy and I (both Christian Scientists) quietly repeated "the scientific statement of being" from Science and Health (see p. 468). Repeating that statement helped me focus on God as I started the swim. I wanted to maintain a continual awareness of His ever-presence moving me through the whole race, rather than relying on physical strength and speed.

After the swim, I decided to catch up some lost ground on my bike by picking up speed at Mile 7, on a long sloping downhill. Halfway down I saw that my speedometer read 36 mph. Then I noticed a biker stopped directly in my path. All I had time to do was yell, "Hey!" before I hit him straight on and went flying in the air. The next thing I knew I was on my back in the middle of the road. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to think or feel.

Then I heard a race volunteer repeating, "Don't move! An ambulance is on the way." I felt very confused, but then the thought came, "You are a Christian Scientist. So act like it!" I knew as a Christian Scientist it was my duty to be obedient to Moses' First Commandment, not to bow down to any other power than God (see Ex. 20:3, 4). Science and Health states that "there is no power apart from God. ... and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God" (p. 228).