A couple of years ago, I decided to become a caddy at a local golf course because I love to play golf, and I thought it would be interesting to see the game from an entirely different perspective. A caddy carries a golfer’s bag of clubs while the golfer is playing. Part of the job is to clean the clubs, tend to the flags, help rake the sand traps, and do other tasks as well. (more…)

After the Indonesian Summit, one half of the Summit team from The Mother Church had to take a red-eye flight to Manila on our way to the Philippines Summit. The night of our flight, we had dinner late, just before heading out to the airport, so we could rest on the 5ish hour flight, and skip the airplane food without going hungry. When the food trolley came by during the flight and the hostess asked if I wanted chicken or fish, as I said “Nothing for me, thank you.” I remember thinking, “If I eat anything at this time, it’ll feel like I have a rock in my tummy in the morning.” Well, we landed in the morning, and as we got off the plane I started to feel like I had a rock in my tummy, even though I hadn’t eaten! This was very inconvenient as I had another eight hour drive to get to Baguio City, where the Summit was to be held. (more…)

I got a FarmVille farm on Facebook because I wanted to help out my father-in-law. I just think it’s cool that he’s 85 years old, playing games on Facebook. But then I got hooked. I like the organization of it. I like grouping the animals , trees, and crops together…and the competitive side of me likes moving up the levels. I’m a Super Shoveler now and well on my way to becoming a Super Grower! (more…)

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…)

This article is from the December 2008 Christian Science Journal.

The Summer of  2004 I strutted around Washington, DC, like a queen. In actuality, I was an intern in a government agency, but I felt like I was sitting on top of the world. I had just graduated from college with a degree in journalism and had landed a prestigious internship through my mentor. Everything was going according to plan.

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Prayer and action go hand-in-hand.  Over the past three days I have dedicated myself to a prayer marathon. It was a time for me, and others, to prayerfully support the Ngochoni Petals of Africa School in Kenya, East Africa.

When I traveled and volunteered at the school last March, I discovered that it had overwhelming needs. At first I had no idea where to start. After a spontaneous inspiration, I got approval from my church to hold a prayer marathon in the church’s Christian Science Reading Room to support the Petals School in prayer, awareness, networking, and new ideas that came along the way.

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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…)

by Kevin Henneberger

I had the opportunity to participate in the CSO Summit over Labor Day, but as a TMC Youth intern, I was helping prepare for the event beforehand. And I found the days leading up to it incredibly helpful. Time was running out and the work was piling up, so we decided to start a prayer watch-each team member took a half an hour a day to pray specifically for the upcoming Summit. This was the first time that I’d actively prayed with other people, for an extended period of time, for one specific cause.

Since praying for more than five minutes was new to me, it was easy to pray about a lot of different things. In my half hour session, I included every aspect of the Summit I could think of-I prayed for the participants, the food, the transportation, the lecturers and speakers, the schedule, safety on the waterslide, and more. It left me feeling so excited and ready for it to start. The difficult preparation naturally started falling into place, too. It was so amazing to see Science working-with eight people praying (over four hours per day), how could I expect anything else?

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by Skyler Gemmer

Those of you who read my last blog know that I was led to Boston by listening to God. Before I had even started to look for jobs or internships, I was considering taking primary class. It’s an intensive two week course on spiritual healing. During the last school year, I did a lot of reading of The Christian Science Journal and the Christian Science Sentinel in hopes that I would find an article by someone who I could see being my teacher. (more…)

by Sam Brower

As I step out of the car, I quickly grab both my bags. I frantically look around for the curbside luggage check. I see the monstrous line and decide to go into the airport to check my cumbersome bags. I am hit by a wave of travelers all heading toward the same check-in line. I rolled my eyes in disgust and head back out for the curbside check. After impatiently waiting for what seemed an eternity, I make it to the front of the line only to discover that I am now too late to check my bags.

With vocal disgust, I trudge back inside. After waiting in another line I finally reach the front. A very frazzled employee informs me that I will probably miss my flight and that all remaining flights to Boston are full. So, I say “whatever,” check my bags and say goodbye to my family. (more…)