In Case You Missed Us August 8th!
PVP Rotary Meeting
Eileen Hupp gathered all of her Virtual Meeting “subjects” a few minutes before noon for a brief social exchange prior to the meeting’s official starting time. Well, I guess we officially began at 12:03, but who’s counting?
Johnathan Udewitz got everyone into the Rotary Spirit with an incredibly inspirational message on Inclusion and doing what’s right regardless of what others may think or do. This was followed by Jackie Ignon leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance, to be rounded out by a beautiful piano rendition of God Bless America by Duncan Sutton.
We were honored by five guests attending today (one being inducted later): Carmenza Adams and her daughter Samantha; two Sunset Rotary members, Rosy Riera-Schwarz and Yuko Saito; along with the City manager of PVE, Lura Guglielmo, joining us.
Eileen Hupp let everyone know that for our Thursday Night Live (August 20th) virtual gathering we can look forward to participating in a Virtual Bingo extravaganza.
Of special interest, it was announced that Rotary officially announced the nomination for the 2022-23 incoming president, who will be the first woman to hold that high honor in our 115- year history! She is Jennifer Jones, a member of the Windsor-Roseland club in Ontario, Canada. These are truly exciting times in the life of Rotary.
Demonstrating our rich rotary tradition, Past District Governor Greg Obrien inducted new member Carmenza Adams. Greg kicked off the induction by speaking to how Rotary opens doors! He talked about the landmark change to Rotary’s structure when women were first welcomed into membership. Then he discussed Rotary family inclusion and how our own club reaches out to all communities to form a stronger, more inclusive balance. Then Carmenza’s sponsor, Kath Anderson, introduced our newest member. Carmenza was born in Columbia and has lived here in the States twenty-five years. She has a Husband – Jack, and daughter (visiting with us today) -- Samantha. Carmenza’s career has been in Real Estate for the last 10 years. We cannot wait to learn more about her in a future craft talk!
And if that wasn’t enough, we were then introduced to today’s speaker, Leslie Wickman PHD (aka Rocket Girl) by her friend (our program chair) Les Fishman. Ms. Wickman’s accolades are too numerous to mention but let me skim from the top. Leslie is a…. research scientist; engineering consultant; inspirational speaker and Adjunct Professor. And, my personal favorites, competitive beach doubles volleyball player and retired women’s professional tackle football player! Oh, did I mention she is also a writer who authored the book God of the Big Bang.
Leslie went right into her discussion entitled “My Journey in Science and Faith.” She mentioned her early years growing up in a Christian household and how her father inspired her to study Astronomy in her youth, possibly causing this confluence of faith and science early in her education. Attending secular schools from elementary through graduate school caused her to develop a quest to reconcile the two sometimes competing disciplines of Scientism and Creationism.
In 2014 there was a scientific “Big Bang” breakthrough announced relating to gravitational waves being detected. This was interpreted as direct evidence of what Albert Einstein predicted in his general theory of relativity – ripples in space-time. Leslie teaches Astronomy for Azusa Pacific, and at that time CNN asked her to write an article they entitled “Does the Big Bang breakthrough offer proof of God?” Prior to this discovery the prevalent theory of cosmic origins “Steady State” argued the universe always existed. However, as Leslie explains, “this new evidence strongly suggests that there was a beginning to our universe.” The blog was picked up on social media and became a viral hit.
Leslie went on to mesmerize us with the statistical improbabilities the world could have started randomly. Scientists believe there are more than 300 life-giving, fine-tuned characteristics needed to support life on earth. With this in mind, the odds of this happening randomly are one chance in ten to the two hundred eightieth power! Her conclusion -- that it can happen, shows that the universe is “rigged” for life.
She pointed out that conflicts arise because Science is often an Inductive Process as opposed to a Deductive Process. An inductive process collects data to try and explain what it means. Deductive process usually starts with a premise, then a second premise, followed by an inference (logical conclusion). Leslie stated that “we will always have people at extremes, but there is evidence for compromise.”
She ended with Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
To search out a matter is the glory of kings.
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