Since 2001, when someone at church introduced me to rowing, I have competed in about 100 races, from small high-school dual meets, to collegiate national championships and international competitions. Inevitably, my racing has taught me about effective preparation for success. (more…)

I was really thirsty this morning. I poured a glass of juice and, anticipating a big cool gulp, spilled some of it on the floor. So I had to find a rag, get down on my knees, and clean up the mess. Thinking about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, most of us are thousands of miles away and we can’t get down on our knees and just clean up the mess…or can we?

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For many Filipinos, the day typhoon Ketsana hit was memorable.  Everyone remembers where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with.  Although it has already been three weeks since the storm hit, some parts of Metro Manila are still flooded in knee-high waters that may not recede until December. Ketsana was immediately followed by Parma, though bypassed Manila and hit the provinces of northern Luzon instead.  This category-5 typhoon caused a lot of landslides in Baguio and its neighboring areas. (more…)

Every day, in little ways, I try to make the world a better place by loving others. Awhile back, as I was going about my normal day-to-day activities at work, I began feeling guilty that my life was as good as it was. I’d been feeling alarmed by the sheer heartlessness of the world that I saw on the news every day. For example, I heard a story involving animal abuse that left me angered and saddened. I felt I could never do enough for the world to end its chaos. The task of reforming the world felt overwhelming—too much for any one person to handle. But through the storm of my thoughts, I found a peaceful voice inside—God’s voice. (more…)

Before I arrived in Zambia for a year-long research fellowship, I carried with me two images of Africa. One image that I grew up with was the Western world’s portrayal of Africa as a destitute continent, and the other was of a unique and beautiful place I was learning about through my studies at university and from my communications with people who lived there. (more…)

The Christian Science Journal, Feb. 2006

I grew up a Muslim. In my homeland of Indonesia, Islam constitutes the majority religion. And in certain areas, such as the part of the country I’m originally from, religious tensions can easily mount because of extremists who tolerate no faith but their own.

While going to Islamic high school, I took a comparative religions class and learned about many faiths I had never heard of before. This education helped, because when I later moved to Jakarta to attend college, I began to search for a religion that would explain God and help me out of my problems.

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by Evan Mehlenbacher

I just paid over $36 to fill up my gas tank.

Ouch! The expense hurt in my pocketbook.

Not too long ago gas was $1.50 a gallon.

While standing near the fuel pump and watching the digits on the gas meter click upward at mind-numbing rates, I started to criticize how expensive gas has become. What’s going on? I’ve read newspaper articles about the billions and billions of profits piling up in oil company coffers. I thought about conflict in the Mideast, much of it arguably centered on protecting oil supplies. And then I started to sum-up the hundreds of dollars I would spend this year at gas stations and it was a lot! (more…)

Ingrid Peschke - the Christian Science Sentinel, Feb. 19, 2007

You’ve undoubtedly sat on one in your life. Ultra compact, lightweight, sleek, and economical, David Rowland’s “40/4” stackable chair put the exclamation point on his career as a designer. His chair can be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the permanent collection of the Palais du Louvre in Paris, at the Bauhaus School in Dessau, Germany, and countless other public locations worldwide.

After studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan—which famous American architects/designers Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen also attended—David moved to a closet-sized room in New York City in the early 1950s. There he spent every free moment honing his chair design, while working two other jobs. (more…)

By Newton Lubuya – The Christian Science Journal, April 2006

Change is good. And coming to the United States from Kenya was a big change for me. I’d never been outside of Kenya before. You know, you have this huge picture of America in your mind from the movies, and when I arrived in the Midwest I thought, Wow! This is different. I’ve been here for the past seven months as a freshman at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, and I love it—every day is a new experience for me.

I’ve been studying Christian Science for the past five years. My uncle, who is a Christian Science practitioner in Nairobi, was my inspiration. I lived with him for a year and a half, and during that time I watched him get up early every day, reading and studying this book, Science and Health. I saw how he worked and how he healed. Nothing got him down.
If I was worried about money, he would say, No, Newton. God is our great provider. He will always supply your needs. And what about career? No, Newton. God guides your career. He will show you the way. This man knew who God is. He spoke lovingly and understandingly, and I liked his God. He taught me that spirituality is a discipline. It’s a way of thinking and living that blesses everyone.

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Republished from the Christian Science Journal
Val Minard
Collingswood, New Jersey, US

It was the blizzard of ’76. I was in college, living in a small attic apartment in Buffalo, New York. My landlord had recently purchased the house and had decided to use the fireplace for the first time on this cold winter night.

All was well, until I woke up to the smell of smoke in the wee hours of the morning. Thinking it was my imagination, I drifted back to sleep, only to awaken a few minutes later wondering if the house could be on fire. No, that only happens in movies, I thought. But rather than go back to sleep, I decided to investigate.

As I opened the door that led to the back staircase and the landlord’s part of the house, smoke poured into my room. Unable to see through the smoke to go downstairs, I tried calling out to warn the landlord and his family—but got no response.

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