I was patiently waiting to get out of my bulk head window seat and deplane at the Atlanta airport last month.
When it was my turn to stand in the aisle, I stood up, looked into the luggage rack for my over-the-shoulder carry-on bag, and it was gone. Someone had taken it.
My mind froze. My heart about stopped. My phone, my laptop, my car key, my tickets, were all in that bag. And home was yet two airports away.
My instant prayer was, “No. This is not possible. That bag belongs to me. No one else wants it. And there can be no mistaken identity.” But honestly, I was panicked.
The stewardess sent me to the gate agent. The gate agent was clueless how to help and sent me to a service desk. The service desk agent was clueless how to help, and minutes were fast ticking away. I had another plane to catch in 60 minutes.
As I calmed down a bit, and began praying more constructively, I was absolutely insistent in my thoughts that this could be remedied, although I didn’t have a clue how.
I remembered the first two words of Mary Baker Eddy’s statement, “Insist vehemently on the great fact which covers the whole ground, that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside Him” p. 421. I did some major insisting, because evidence was mounting fast that I wasn’t ever going to see this bag again.
I pressed the agents for a record of passengers because I felt someone sitting next to me had probably taken the bag. They had no record available and said any contact information was confidential anyway.
Twenty minutes have passed by now.
As I stood at the counter, refusing to leave until a solution appeared, and the agent politely putting up with me, the stewardess from that plane walks up to the desk and says to me, “Oh, are you still here?” She listens a bit to my requests for records, and hearing the agent repeatedly say he didn’t have any, leaves, and a few minutes later comes back with a record of every passenger on the plane. I am thinking, “Thank you God.”
We study the passenger information, and my prayers are telling me that one of the two men sitting next to me probably has my bag. But which one? The agent tells me the gates each men are at for their next plane. And the gates are on the other side of the airport. Time was ticking.
I prayed for further guidance, again insisting there was a solution, and the voice of wisdom told me to pursue Chad, one of the two guys. I was in A14. He was in D26. Off to D26 I went with no proof that this was even the right step to take, except for a feeling within.
By the time I reach D26, I have peace that God is working His purpose out, and somehow this is going to be all resolved, and very soon. At the gate, the agent pages him. He is nowhere to be seen or found. My plane is leaving soon, back at A54. I stand at the counter refusing to leave until a solution appears. The agent is clueless about what to do except wait. I pray, and again, insist in my mind there is a solution, and now.
Minutes later, a supervisor appears and asks what the problem is. She looks at Chad’s ticket and says, “Oh, he’s a diamond. I bet he’s in the Sky Club.” “Thank you God,” I utter within. She’s probably right, I figure. They page him at the club located down the terminal way. Thirty seconds later he walks out with my bag. I was the happiest man in the Atlanta airport that day. And I got back to my departing plane just in time to board.
As I sat on my next flight, immensely relieved, I thought, “It’s just like it never happened.” And that’s the nature of error. It is not an experience of truth. The belief that I had lost my bag was an illusion. I had not. Divine Mind knew exactly where it was all along, and all I had to do was listen to what Mind knew, and I came to know the same.
But my saving grace through the ordeal was the vehement insistence I felt in thought that resolution was possible. At every turn, I was faced with agents that didn’t have a clue what to do, and was hoping I would just disappear so they didn’t have to deal with my problem. But my insistence caused me to stand my ground until solutions appeared. And they did each step of the way until the problem was fully resolved. I am so grateful to God.
Insist on results. It works.
Thanking God for your steadfastness in your/HIS behalf and for sharing!
So helpful and encouraging…
Thanks for this story! To me, the most important part of such situations is not panicking, but recognizing God’s control over all. All panicking accomplishes is to make it harder to hear God’s guidance as to the next step to take. By asserting all-harmony, we stay calm and are able to hear what to do next, as you did. Human wisdom may be clueless, but God knows!
Wow! I really HAVE to work on my persistence!
I gave up (on your behalf) before I was halfway through reading it!
😀
…and, that is knowing you wouldn’t have written about it without a solution.
Thanks for sharing.
Wow, whew, Evan, what a wonderful proof of the power of persistent prayer! Your prayers, posts, webinars, and healing work for Church are blessing all each day. Sincerest thanks!
What a wonderful proof of persistence and Knowing true harmony, even if it didn’t seem like it at the time. Mortal mind’s suspense and drama sometimes seems overwhelming at times, but calm listening to His/Her guidance is always at hand when we need it most. Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us, Evan. Such an inspiration!
a wonderful demonstration Evan thank you! And, from a human standpoint maybe a more distinctive name tag for the future 🙂
Hey Evan – thanks for the gripping retelling of your story! I really appreciated your admission of feeling panicky and not quite knowing where to be or go. It would be easy to homogenize the story just to include what you did and how you were led – and that would have been awesome in itself.
I loved your refusal to move until things became clear, despite others being uncomfortable with your presence – and that meant staying in one spot for 20 minutes (out of the 60 you had) being steadfast. That is a long time – even if we don’t have a plane to catch!!
I think what I am getting at is that there is a perception that the more we understand about CS the more ‘humanly perfect’ we are, and whilst we do achieve a greater ‘presence of Mind’ we do still have to press through this mental chatter clamoring for our attention.
With many thanks!
Thanks so much. Especially helpful right now
The Atlanta airport is HUGE and in itself a challenge! Some would call this whole experience a miracle. Some would say it is the natural outcome of trusting God. Either way, it’s beautiful!
This is such a great story! So glad you persisted and it all worked out for you! I am so curious, forgive me: did the man who took your bag say “sorry”? Did he take yours mistakenly? Was he then in the same predicament as you had been in… Without his bag and soon to be flying? Any more details about that? Can’t help asking, thanks!
He did profusely apologize. He had no idea he had taken my bag. He also wondered how I ever found him. I told him his bag was back at the gate and that it would be helpful for him to put an id on it!
Thanks for sharing such an amazing story like this with us, Evan !
I really enjoyed reading each passage of your adventure and how you managed to deal with each step until the realization that your bag was never lost.
This kind of example makes us see more clearly and understand better the efficiency of Christian Science, because it’s a real battle, so common nowadays, between illusion and truth.
Thank you and happy to see that your bag is with you 😀
Thank you, Evan. This is so inspiring.
Thank so much for sharing that experience and the steps you were led to take. You proved That the Shepherd as spoken of in hymn 307 was showing you how to go, you were listening to God’s voice and persistently following it with your thought staying with the fact of a solution being possible. A wonderful example for us all.
Seeing how the persistence of prayer and calm thinking in the midst of a busy, bustling airport brings results is a great example to us all of God’s guidance as ever present. Even when the anxiety of human thought tries to overwhelm us, the higher law of goodness and the promise of divine guidance is at work, resolving the situation. We can trust God’s goodness in every situation to bring harmony to our thought and experience! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome demonstration of staying close to God ALL the time, as you do, and proving your inseparability from the knowledge of the One Mind (and staying calm to hear it). A really helpful and perfect example to learn from. Thank you. One question, what happened to his bag, I am assuming he had one and mistakenly took yours?
That’s what I’d like to know too
Thank you for sharing this experience Evan!
More and more I’m realizing that my experience is a reflection of what I KNOW to be true. What I consider “real”, in other words.
If we know that God is all-harmonious, and therefore can only create harmony, it is natural for us to expect to experience harmony at all times. If we know this to be true, then it’s unnatural for us to just “hope” to see harmony when we pray, or “try praying to see if it will work”. When we catch ourselves having any other attitude than fully expecting harmony to be manifested in our experience every time we pray to see the truth, where some problem appears to exist, then we can correct that attitude by “insisting” as you did that harmony is the only reality. I’ve found that treating myself for doubting that a) God is in control, or b) that prayer as taught in Christian Science is effective, is more important sometimes than praying to see the counter fact of whatever issue I’m facing. So thanks again for pointing out how important it is to insist the truth is true.
Note: In the citation from Science and Health you quoted above, you provided the page number but didn’t mention it was from Science and Health. Did you mean to also mention it was from S&H?
It is supposed to read Science and Health. Thanks!
This is powerful! Thank you Evan.
Thank you. Great example. I think it’s important to realize the foundation of your persistence. To me, it wasn’t persistence of human will, but rather persistence in knowing – being confident – that God’s laws of good, order, harmony, protection, honesty, etc. were in operation and insisting on it’s realization.
I appreciate your sharing your experiences. It’s very helpful.
Thanks again.
A brilliant lesson in practical Christianity and our ability – indeed “responsi-bility” to stand firm on the Law. I am reminded of a friend who wrote a wonderful book “On this rock I stand and earth, you will move!”
Thank you so much for ending the week on such a great note – still chuckling in gratitude!
that was a great story. kinda gripping. What I learned was the persistence for the truth to be revealed. I almost laughed when you said that when the solution was revealed and the bag returned it was almost as if nothing had happened because error does not express. How spot on that is. When that has happened I almost sheepishly say, thank you, and go on with my life, as if, Well of course, what else is happening? I hope you can apply this understanding retroactively.
Nothing is lost in God’s Kingdom. Many times in the last two years I have remembered this and each an every time the item was being held for me.
Your spiritual thoughts directed you to your ability to locate the suitcase. Excellent Spiritual work Evan. Your thoughts will be remembered and used.
Thank You!
Great article! Very “edge-of-seat.” It proves that harmony is right, and God sets all things right, or rather they are already. We just have to persist in knowing it, and also to take the human steps as best we know to move forward, taking an active part in our prayer. Thanks for sharing this, Evan!
Brian, you woke me up with: “I’ve found that treating myself for doubting … is more important sometimes than praying to see the counter fact of whatever issue I’m facing.”
Thanks, I needed that!
Great lesson! Thank you for answering Chris’ comments. I had the same questions. I have flown into Atlanta airport many times and it truly is huge.
I had a similar experience last week but involving a car. Exiting a restaurant a couple hundred miles from home, the sliding door on or van would not close. As my husband responded with anger and my son tinkered with the door mechanism, my thought was that there is a soution to this. I need to be still so I’ll recognize it when it speaks. After several dead-end phone calls my husband had an aha moment, found the number of a body shop and we drove there (with the door open…very windy, but only 2 miles). The mechanic gave the door a temporary functionality pending a permanent fix and we were on our way. He only charged us $10. All I could say was Thanks God. Yes prayer has the solution every time.
In a recent talk by David Hohle he stated that “if it’s necessary, it’s possible.” Your experience certainly proved this.
This happened to me once in the Houston airport, my home at the time. In my case, I thought/prayed quietly for a minute and remembered hearing a large group of people saying they were going to New Orleans. I ran over to that gate (dragging the bag that had been left behind), and sure enough, I saw someone with my bag. Turns out she had borrowed a suitcase from a friend and really didn’t know what it looked like. I told her she would have been very disappointed if she had arrived in New Orleans with my dirty laundry!!
Marvelous outcome. Did u ask the man who had your bag if he was able to locate his own?
Once I got my bag from him, I had to beeline it to my plane, so I never saw him again. But I’m pretty sure they held his bag for him at the gate we arrived at. I also mentioned to him that he should put ID on his bag. He agreed!