ESCAPE!

C. Shelton Beardsley

[The seabird was drawn by Sunday School pupil Cameron Horan last year when he was three.]

There were seabirds, lots of them wheeling around the sky above the rocks and tide pools where David was playing. David was six years old and knew the names of some of them—herring gull, tern, curlew, sandpiper. There were others he did not know by name, but he loved them all. He loved the way they soared about, settling down and then reaching skyward again. David often found himself wishing he could fly with them.

But he was happy exploring the rocks and the pools left by the tide as it went out to sea. David loved discovering things. The seashore where he played was full of shells and sea creatures. But he had to be careful! The rocks and pools could quickly be cut off from the sandy beach by the returning tide. Then David wouldn't be able to get home.

Usually he was careful. But one afternoon David had scrambled over the rocks and waded through the many shallow pools longer than usual. Suddenly he found himself cut off from the beach by the waves. David had been watching the birds and was humming a line from a familiar hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal, "Thought soars enraptured, fetterless and free,"^{Hymn No. 64;} when he noticed the high water.

At first fear tried to fill David's thought. But the first line of the hymn he had just been humming came to him: "From sense to Soul my pathway lies before me." He wasn't sure he really understood just what that meant. But it reminded him of his last Sunday School class, when they talked about God's help in escaping from danger. David wished he could see a means of escape right now. He remembered his Sunday School teacher had told the class that Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, had written about God guiding us out of trouble: "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee. Therefore despair not nor murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance."^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, pp. 149, 150;} Now David was looking hard for this guidance. He needed to find a way through the water quickly!

Many times David had turned to God in prayer as he had been taught in Christian Science. And his prayers had been answered. He was sure God would show him the way out now, too. It was then that he noticed some of his seabird friends were gathered together on a bar of sand. Their sandbar was not yet covered by the rising water.

Within minutes David scrambled to safety on their sandbar! Only his wet sneakers told of his close call. And as he ran up the beach toward home and dinner, David gave thanks to God because he had had another proof of God's care. David had learned how to trust the promise Christ Jesus gave his followers, "Nothing shall by any means hurt you."^{Luke 10:19.}

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The Candle and the Whole House

May 26, 1973

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