SAFE ON MY LONGBOARD

BY CHARLIE PETCH

Last year, I was racing around town on my longboard with some friends, when we came to a really giant hill. I thought it would be fun to bomb down to the bottom, but unfortunately I wiped out partway down, falling off my board and knocking myself unconscious at the foot of the hill.

As I regained consciousness, my friends took care of me and helped me. They sat on the curb with me while I called my mom. "I had a bad crash," I told her. "Will you come pick me up?" I could feel that I had chipped some teeth in the fall, so after I got cleaned up at home, she drove me to a dentist. While the dentist was examining me, I found I couldn't open my mouth all the way. He took an X-ray of my mouth, which revealed that I had broken my jaw during the fall. He referred me to an oral surgeon, who said he would have to wire my jaw shut for six weeks to allow it to heal. I wouldn't be able to eat any solid food for that whole time—I'd only be able to drink milkshakes and smoothies through a straw!

The oral surgeon was ready to perform the operation right then, but when he left the room for a moment, I turned to my mom and told her, "I want to approach this through prayer instead." I've been a Christian Scientist my whole life, and I've had amazing healings for as long as I can remember, so I felt confident that I could rely on prayer for this healing, too. When the doctor returned, my mom explained what Christian Science is and told him that we were going to pray. The doctor said that would be fine, but asked me to come back every day so he could check on my progress.

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