Finding Shelter

MY husband and I call our minivan ``the ark.'' Not because it could hold lots of pairs of animals, but because the van carried us safely through quite a storm last winter. Actually, as with Noah's ark, it wasn't the vessel itself that provided the safety; it was God.

We had to drive from Boston to Cleveland during a severe snowstorm. The trip couldn't be postponed, and we had to arrive by a certain time because of a commitment we had. We prayed about what to do. And we knew that in doing what was right, we would be supported by God, divine Love. My husband and I are students of Christian Science. So, as we drove, we prayed to gain a more spiritual perspective of the situation and to understand more clearly the supremacy and allness of God, divine Spirit.

My husband pointed out that because God, good, is indeed All-in-all, evil cannot make itself present. It cannot harm or even touch God's man, for man exists as a spiritual idea in divine Spirit, Mind. Just as the animals and Noah's family were safe within the ark during the storm and flood, we knew we were safe in God.

Two Bible verses came to mind as assurances of this fact. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul points out, ``Your life is hid with Christ in God'' (3:3). And in Acts we read of God, ``In him we live, and move, and have our being'' (17:28). We were hidden from the false belief of a material force that could overpower God's sheltering care because our thoughts and motives were aligned with the Christ, Truth--the true idea of God that Christ Jesus lived so fully. As God's children, we actually live and move within the peaceful and clear and beautiful atmosphere of divine Mind--not within weather patterns, or state lines, or even physical bodies. I knew we were not material beings in a material storm, because man is spiritual and dwells in God.

It was interesting to me that even while I was driving through the heart of the storm I was totally unafraid. I simply knew we were safe in God's care. We made normal progress, and the van had no tendency to slip or slide. Because we knew only good, divine Spirit, could be present, the storm had no effect on us. And, in fact, we made it to Cleveland on time. (We later learned the section of highway we'd been traveling on had been closed during the storm. We hadn't seen any notice of the closing; we did notice, however, that the road wasn't plowed!) We had to smile when one of the hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal that we sang in church a few days later described God as ``our shelter from the stormy blast, / And our eternal home'' (No. 213). That wasn't just a nice poetic image to us anymore!

Man is forever safe as a spiritual idea in divine Mind. We don't have to accept the belief that we are mortals, vulnerable to disease or injury or accident, and destined to death. Jesus proved otherwise! And he told us we could follow his example.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, a book by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, offers the spiritual significance of the Biblical image of the ark. It explains: ``Ark. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter.

``God and man coexistent and eternal; Science showing that the spiritual realities of all things are created by Him and exist forever. The ark indicates temptation overcome and followed by exaltation'' (p. 581).

As we overcome the temptation to believe in and fear a material power and as we recognize that all true being is in Spirit and is eternal, we can do what it is necessary for us to do and experience the peace and joy of knowing we're safe.

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