A weather officer in the United States Air Force was faced with a dilemma. His observations showed a typhoon heading directly for the thickly populated island on which he was stationed and on which were several Air Force installations. The man was a Christian Scientist, and he knew it was his duty as an adherent of this religion to acknowledge good as real and to deny evil as unreal. But it was also his duty to predict the weather and to report his forecast.

There was little time to make the decision, but there was time to pray—there always is. He recognized the immediate problem as a false suggestion that he did not know what to do. He acknowledged prayerfully that he was an idea of divine Mind, God, and that therefore he always reflected divine wisdom. He remembered a statement from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, "Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal." ^{Science and Health, p. 505;} He reasoned that as an idea of Mind he could not be confused by anything unreal claiming to be real.

Then he saw that whereas the human scene included both harmony and discord, spiritual reality included only perfect harmony. He could express spiritual wisdom by understanding the nothingness of a typhoon and the reality of constructive, peaceful conditions, whether in the atmosphere or elsewhere. And he could express wisdom in human affairs by giving skillfully what he was required to give: a projection of conditions as his weather observations showed them. He would not be making a prediction, but a statement of the picture as it now appeared. Everyone who would read his statement would be free to interpret it as they chose. He would express integrity in giving what he was asked for, and he would express integrity in mentally denying the evil and affirming the good.

The typhoon came to the southern tip of the island, then veered off to sea without doing any damage.

A Christian Scientist does not go out in rain without a raincoat or an umbrella. He does not ignore the weather. But he recognizes that all things, including the weather, are under the control of divine Mind. And Christian Science teaches that, although one cannot do anything personally about the weather, one can, through prayer, demonstrate God's control over the weather.

Christ Jesus proved that Mind, God, knows all but knows no discordant or turbulent conditions. When he slept on a ship, a storm came up, and the disciples woke him, saying, "Lord, save us: we perish." The account continues: "And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm." ^{Matt. 8:25, 26;}

We read in the papers of flood conditions in some places and drought conditions in others. We hear of or experience hurricanes tornadoes, extremes of heat or cold. What do we do about them? We can always do what the disciples did.

Up to the time when the storm became violent, they probably thought of the changing weather as an interesting topic of conversation. But when things got bad, they awakened the one who represented the Christ. They knew that he alone could help them, but even then they showed by their reaction after the storm was stilled that they had had no hint in their thoughts that Jesus would take action against the weather itself.

Do we not have a similar attitude? The representative of the Christ in this age is Christian Science, the law of divine Mind. This law operates in our human lives to show us the Christ, the true idea of God. Unless we appeal to this law, this Science, we merely talk about the weather, until things get so bad we must cry out for something greater than human help. Then, perhaps, we pray for a miracle. But should we not have turned in the first place to the law of Mind? Mind governs all, and through Mind's law, Christian Science, we know how to pray to Mind. If we do what we know how to do, we shall find God's law enabling us to do more.

Christian Science teaches us the mental nature of all things, including the weather. As we recognize untoward weather conditions not as physical phenomena but as presentments of false mentality, which we term mortal mind, we can deny these conditions with authority. This authority is not personal and theoretical, but is divinely sanctioned. Divine Mind authorizes its ideas to declare God's allness and goodness. From this we derive our authority to deny whatever is destructive. When we identify ourselves as Mind's ideas, we gain in understanding. Then we can more clearly discern what is useful and what is useless, and we can affirm and deny on the basis of the reality of good and the unreality of evil.

Why do we fail to exercise our authority to declare the truth of God's government of the weather? Devastation by too much or too little activity in the atmosphere is contrary to God's law. Mrs. Eddy tells us: "Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man." ^{Science and Health, p. 393.} In view of this, do we have any real excuse for not doing better with the weather?

Carl J. Welz