Sharing the Spotlight

Testing 1,2,3

I can't resist these goofy tests. I wonder what that says about me. There's probably a test out there that can tell me and I just haven't found it! (yet)

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

God's Minute 2/5

February 5

Whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.--Matthew 21:22

OUR Heavenly Father, gratefully we acknowledge Thy continuing loving kindness in protecting us sleeping and waking, and in providing for our daily needs. Forbid that the regularity with which Thy mercies come should ever make us forgetful that they come from Thee. If Thou shouldst withhold a single one, we should plead for its renewal.

Help us to meditate upon Thyself--Thy majesty and power, Thy tender compassion, Thy grief at our sinfulness, Thy grace to help in our time of need. May every gift of Thine come as a messenger from the Throne, summoning us to deeper devotion in heart and life.

Above all, we thank Thee for the Son of Thy love, Thy most gracious Gift to men.

Help us to tread aright the unknown path of another day. Lead Thou us on. And at its close may we be able to look back thankfully that by Thy grace we have heard Thy voice and followed Thee. Guide us in our perplexities; restrain us in our joys; comfort us in our sorrows; guard us in our temptations; and forgive us all our sins; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Rev. G.E. Morgan, M.A.,
London, England

Mathmatically challenging

To say that I am mathmatically challenged would be an understatement. I was, and have always been a rather good student, but math is the subject that not only lowered my GPA, it lowered my self respect. Other than 10th grade Geometry, hard work and determination allowed me to stay above a C in all my math classes, but it wasn't easy. (Geometry was the exception, but we won't go there.)

So when my friend, Kyle, shared about a famous mathematician, you can bet I had never heard of him. But being the curious person that I am, I had to google.

Leonhard Euler

Just a quick skimming of the Wikipedia article linked above will confirm that this was an amazing man with an amazing intellect. He was born in 1707 and was a mathmatical child prodigy. According to the article he dominated the field of mathmatics in the 1700's. If you take the time to follow the link and read his accomplishments, you will see that this is an understatement! A prolific writer, he produced 70 volumes, half of which were written in the last 17 years of his life, when he was blind. To get an idea of just how prolific he was: "it has been estimated that it would take eight hours of work per day for 50 years to copy all his works by hand."

That's just copying! That doesn't include thinking and working and calculating and thinking and proving. . .

An amazing man! The article is full of amazing mathmatical feats (most of which I did not understand but impressed me, nonetheless!) And yet, the sentence that stands out to me was the one Kyle noted: Euler was a deeply religious Calvinist throughout his life.

Euler grew up, was educated, and produced all his mathematical magic during the Enlightenment, a volatile period after the Protestant Reformation in which enlightenment philosophy stripped God of His Sovereignty and many Scientists embraced Deism. If there was ever a time for a man of such brilliance to have occasion to reject "the old paths", this was the time. And yet Euler remained a deeply religious man, a Calvinist, all his life.

As a Calvinist, Euler believed in the absolute Sovereignty of God. He held on to the very characteristic of God that was being eroded in the minds of those who had embraced the Enlightenment. He "stood fast" in the midst of the darkness which was the "enlightenment".

This, to me, was the greatest accomplishment of Euler's life. And that, as every good Calvinist knows, was wrought in Christ Jesus.

Baby it's Cold Outside