Toward safer travel

When incidents occur such as the recent airplane crash in Washington, D.C., we should be quick to pray about them. Bringing to bear on these situations the knowledge that man is actually spiritual and inseparable from God, his Maker, we can help ourselves and those involved.

Accidents are not the result of God's will. No divine purpose is ever served through such happenings. God, good, cannot be the source of evil, since these two are mutually exclusive. And because God is omnipresent Spirit, in reality there is no place for evil to act.

Then what about accidents? Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ''Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God's unerring direction and thus bring out harmony.''n1

n1 Science and Health,m p. 424

Christian Science teaches that God is the only Mind, and because He is Spirit , man -- His image and likeness -- is completely spiritual. Understanding this fact helps free us from the whims of so-called material law where chance seems to be a factor, and places us securely under the governance of divine law. The recognition that in reality there's just one perfect Mind begins to free us from the belief in many mortal minds -- some alert, some sleepy, some hurried, some careless -- with whom we have to contend for our safe passage.

For instance, my first long trip by car was about 400 miles from home. When I arrived, I was overwhelmed by the thought of the return journey -- all the on/off ramps I would have to negotiate, the possibility of bad weather and drunken drivers. Then suddenly I saw clearly that since there really is only one Mind, governing all, I could expect to see the evidence of this fact in the form of intelligence, order, harmony, and lawfulness in myself and in other drivers as well. From that moment on I was no longer afraid. The return trip went without a hitch.

The knowledge of the oneness of Mind is also valuable if we are confronted with an accident. Wholehearted prayer enables us to feel the Christ, the presence of God, guiding us to make the right decisions and to respond quickly to emergencies. If the accident doesn't touch us personally, we can still pray, realizing that man is never cut off from divine care, never, in truth, subject to accident. As God's spiritual offspring, man is inseparable from divine Love.

No matter what the circumstances, we can be confident in the power of God's law to gently waken us from mortal views that would claim to impede the proper functioning of His government. With the single-mindedness of a mother and the strength of a father, God enfolds all His children. As Christ Jesus declared, ''Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. . . . Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.''n2

n2 Metthew 10:29, 31.

The Bible tells of many situations in which people faced danger. Yet in each case their willingness to rely on the love of God saw them through.n3 In fact, Paul wrote confidently to the Romans, ''I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.''n4

n3 For example, see Acts 16:16-40; Matthew 8:23-27; Genesis 41:53-45:8.

n4 Romans 8:38, 39.

Although the human situation may seem to be one of devastation, we must strive to overcome our fears and sorrows and embrace the reality of God as omnipresent Life. This Life is man's only source. No evil circumstance can insert itself between God and His cherished offspring, man, to deprive them of each other. The allness of Love cannot be fractured by evil.

As we pray along these lines, we begin to give up belief that man can be separated from God or subject to chance, and we find more and more evidence of ''God's unerring direction'' in our lives. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Proverbs 29:25