Over the years, I have enjoyed learning particular aspects of history. Within the past year, I had an experience that really was a turning point in my thinking. I was out of town hundreds of miles from home to attend a historical commemoration event. As I arrived in the hotel parking lot of the destination city, my car was involved in a collision (and ended up being totaled). This trouble threatened the entire schedule of events that I had come to attend. I tenaciously held to the fact that only good could go on in God’s kingdom, not accepting the material sense picture, which was very discouraging.

As I went forward, holding to the idea of omnipresent good, I was able to secure transportation to attend the events that I needed to for the first night. When I returned to my hotel room, I studied a page from a periodical article I had brought along. In the article, the author relates the story of a funeral for a sailor. The author then describes how drastically the atmosphere would change if the sailor suddenly walked in. The writer's point was that the Christ is a living presence, a presence at hand, not needing to be memorialized. I realized that this was very applicable to my current situation. I didn’t need to be memorializing a historic situation. I needed to be seeing more of the living Christ, which is always at hand.

Someone who introduced themselves to me at the first night’s event offered me transportation to events on the second day.  The manager of the hotel provided a free night at the hotel. New opportunities were opened up through the individual who offered me transportation. I was able to secure transportation back home.