Divide by infinity?

I have been attending some of the weekly sessions of the Truth Project, which is a DVD series produced by Focus on the Family. I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about it, but after watching some of the sessions, I am sold. It contains some well-thought and well-organized foundational material regarding the Scriptures and the concept of Truth. I highly recommend it.

Part of this evening's session was about how God dwells in believers through the Holy Spirit. Believers do not have just a part of God becasue he cannot be divided. His very nature is about oneness. Dr. Tackett on the DVD used the mathematical illustration that when you divide infinity by any number you get infinity, so that is how God can dwell within each believer at the same time. It is truly amazing that God dwells in me through the Holy Spirit!

I started thinking about the mathematical converse. What if you take any number and divide it by infinity? Mathematically this is undefined, but from Calculus, we know that the limit of this approaches zero. Therefore, if we apply mathematics to the spiritual, we could say that if we try to remove (divide) God (infinity) out of anything, we are left with nothing of value.

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

I have been very affected by the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. I had actually met one of the professors who was killed. Two years ago, I interviewed there for a post-doc position and possible faculty position. The interview was a full day, so I met with many faculty members. I toured the lab of Kevin Granata and talked to him about his research. He was a very nice man who was doing some great research. I took some brief notes from that day, and one thing that I noted about Dr. Granata was that he had taken time out of his schedule to meet with me even though he had a grant application due the next day. I may have also met one of the other professors who was killed on Monday.

I was offered a post-doc position at a lab in the building next to where the shooting occurred, but I didn't accept it because I felt like I was to stay in Seattle. The thought that I could have been there makes me think. How would I have reacted? What would I have done? My first thought is "I am glad I wasn't there." Not just because I could have been killed--"For to me to live is Messiah and to die is gain"--but because it would be such a trauma to witness something like that. The grief must be overwhelming for those who knew the victims well.

I think about the real possibility that some of the people who were killed did not know the Lord as their Savior. That makes me very sad. I saw the webpage of one of the victims who said that Jesus was the love of her life. She is in a better place now. I pray that through this tragedy many people will turn to the Lord and be saved through Jesus the Messiah who offers eternal life to all who call on Him.

May we all be ready to meet the Lord when our time on this earth is ended.