While I had a lot of success in high school – academically, athletically, socially – I felt an emptiness that the success did not satisfy. I was excited about going to college, assuming things would be different. Nonetheless, I found that the emptiness followed me. Looking back, I was experiencing the truth expressed by Blaise Pascal, seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher, that “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” Realizing my approach wasn’t working, in the spring of my freshman year I received Christ as my Lord and Savior, and began to experience peace and a sense of purpose in life that had previously eluded me. That’s not to say that everything was perfect after that. While God has indeed blessed me, I’ve also experienced life’s pain and disappointments along the way – relational disappointments, job challenges, the death of my father in 1983 (I was 25 and he was 50), that same year being downsized (position eliminated, let go, fired) during the 1980’s recession. Yet, God’s blessings were also apparent – I met my wife in 1983, God used my unemployment to guide me to graduate school and ultimately to become a professor, which was beyond the imagination of this first-generation college son of a plumber. During my graduate school days, I was fortunate to have Godly research advisors and a Numerical Methods professor who, on the first day of class, introduced himself by mentioning the importance of his faith in his life. I have sought to emulate these Christ-centered examples in the classroom and my work with research students. On the first day of class, I share that my priorities in life are faith, family, and work, saying that a balanced life, just like a balanced bicycle wheel, is best. Thus, while I work hard at my job, I strive to maintain a balance between faith, family, and work. I tell my students that, regardless of their faith, for me, it is faith in Jesus Christ, I encourage them to maintain their faith as a top priority. When recruiting research students, I tell them I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I don’t expect them to work any harder than I do. The bad news is that I work pretty hard. However, given my faith, family, and work priorities, I encourage them to balance their faith and family/friends with their research work. While my career and my life have had their share of challenges and disappointments (e.g., why did my dad die at age 50), I have found God to be faithful to me, which encourages me to trust Him for things I don’t understand. As I trust Him, in the good times and bad, I have experienced the truth that “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:7