Ewan's Corner

Posts Tagged ‘me’

(from John D Cook’s blog The Endeavour)

C. S. Lewis wrote that

Faith is holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.

When someone says “I can’t believe it’s Tuesday” he really means that he does believe it’s Tuesday, but it takes effort. His emotions are telling him that it is some other day, but he chooses to accept that it is Tuesday for other reasons.

It takes faith for me to believe that men walked on the moon in 1969. I’m convinced that it happened, but it doesn’t seem true to me. It doesn’t seem plausible that 1960’s technology could have accomplished this, even though I know that it did.

It takes faith for me to believe that Ernest Shackleton and his crew survived their exploration of the Antarctic. I don’t doubt the historical accounts, though they are hard to believe.

It takes faith for me to believe some mathematical theorems even though I have carefully gone through every line of their proofs. I am convinced that these theorems are true though they do not seem true. Other mathematicians have commented on the same experience. For example, Jerry Bona once joked that

The Axiom of Choice is obviously true; the Well Ordering Principle is obviously false; and who can tell about Zorn’s Lemma?

The three statements he mentions are logically equivalent, though the Axiom of Choice is the easiest to believe and the Well Ordering Principle is the hardest to believe.

It takes faith for me to believe in God. At times it doesn’t feel like God exists, though there are reasons to believe that He does. I have found these reasons convincing, and I hold on to my conclusions in spite of my changing moods.

and new:

I managed to break my ring finger recently (falling off a mechanical bull at the Derivco fun day – I only lasted 3 seconds but in my defence the longest time anyone managed to stay up was 9 seconds, and you should see his injuries). My finger has to be splinted for several weeks (really slows down typing and nappy changing) but on the plus side my x-ray came in handy during last Friday’s solar eclipse (partial from SA). I didn’t take any photos, but happily others did – nice to see some South African photographers too.
ps – I do realise that an x-ray is not an ideal (read: safe) solar filter, but it works in a pinch as long as you don’t look at the sun for more than a few seconds, and are careful.

From today’s APOD – Sunrise Over Kilimanjaro. Beautiful. My current (physical, out there in the real world, tangible) goal is to climb the highest mountain in Africa before I get too old / fat / unfit (also a great excuse to visit my favourite store). Unfortunately my wife is against the whole idea, and was even before Caleb was born (she also won’t let me go into space when I finally win more than $20m in the lottery). Honestly.

My love, read the Wikipedia article – and note phrases like “The climb to Uhuru Peak is considered to be a relatively straightforward endeavour” and ”
Annually, approximately 15,000 people attempt to climb the mountain“. goafrica also says “The exciting thing about this mountain is that anyone who is fit and determined can make it up. No special climbing equipment or expertise is needed.“. I’ll be on babysitting duty for a whole year :-)

I have a wonderful wife, who is my best friend and the best mother in the world for our little boy. Each week I am reminded just how hard it is for her to deal with Mommy Madness, and she does it all with a smile and a laugh – and still finds time to love and keep me sane and so very happy.

I have my Caleb, who keeps growing and learning and laughing and adding a whole new dimension and meaning to my life. He reminds me how fun the simple stuff can be, and how your inner child is someone you want to keep close.

I have a great job with a great company. It keeps me mentally stimulated and challenged, growing my skill set daily, surrounded by interesting and intelligent people, and of course there’s the fast ‘net access :)

I have two wonderful parents, who on March 10th will have been married for 32 years. I am so grateful to them for being the parents they were, bringing up four boys with so much patient energy and dedication, and giving us a fantastic head start in life. I look around and see broken families everywhere, kids and adults who were changed and sometimes scarred by a divorce (or more than one!) and who don’t trust in marriage and loved ones as a result. Thank you MaPa.

It’s not hard to look around and see proof of how blessed I and my loved ones are. Lenn Pryor’s emotional post about his sister Lori earlier this week really made me reevaluate what I have.

I have a wonderful church filled with wonderful caring, loving and deeply spiritual people who support and help me grow every day.

I have my health – and I try not to take for granted the fact that I can go for a run in the morning if i want to. I live in a country with issues, but it’s a beautiful country full of beautiful people and places. I’m blessed with talent and skills, and people who love me. Battlestar Galactica is on to its second season.

Life is good. Thank you Lord.