Katherine Grote

When I was a kid, I went to church with my family each week. I learned what I was “supposed” to believe, but like many people, wasn’t sure I really bought it all. By the time I was a young teen, I wasn’t sure if God existed or not. Being of a nerdy persuasion even back then, I did experiments to see if acting as if I believed (or not) would help me determine if God existed. As you can probably guess, the results of these experiments were inconclusive. As an undergraduate, life went fairly well, and I became aware that I would probably succeed professionally and socially, at least to my fairly modest aspirations. But, I also had a deep-rooted awareness that this wasn’t enough for me. I wanted life to mean more – I had a fear of getting to the end of my life, finding that I had been “successful”, and that everything I had experienced or achieved didn’t really matter. I decided to look into spiritual beliefs more, in the hopes of finding something more meaningful than economic or social success. I decided to look into all the major religious beliefs (including atheism and agnosticism) to see which best matched my observations of the world (scientific, human relationships, and personal). I did not, and do not now, believe that we should just accept whichever beliefs our parents or culture teach us. After reviewing all the major options, I found that Christianity made the most sense from an intellectual perspective, and it offered eternal meaning for my life. This was encouraging, but I had a problem –Christianity teaches that your relationship with God is based upon your belief in Jesus (your acceptance of his sacrifice for our sins and recognition of his authority in your life), and I couldn’t make myself believe that Jesus had really done that for me. I tried to believe it, but I learned that intellectual conviction is not enough to give faith. So, one day I prayed to the God that I didn’t really believe in and gave him a challenge – “if you are real, help me believe it”. It would be nice to say that I had a momentous experience immediately following that prayer, but the real story is less dramatic. Some days passed, and then one day I realized that I now really believed, in my deep, core being. It was both a momentous and a humbling moment, when I realized that we owe everything to Jesus, including our faith. Since that point, Jesus has been teaching me how to have a personal and interactive relationship with him, and that has truly changed my life. One of the things I have most appreciated about the Christian worldview is that it is so consistent - science, morality, personal relationships, and spiritual truths exist in harmony. Life as a Christ-follower has not always been easy, but God never promised that it would be. It is much richer and infinitely (no exaggeration here!) more meaningful than it had been. And I am extremely grateful that God guides my life and always has, even when I was unaware of it. I am also grateful for the beauty and the awe-inspiring complexity of his designs – the more I learn, the more amazed I am! If you are currently looking at worldview options, or questioning the ultimate meaning of your life, I want to encourage you. I think the biggest challenge of modern culture is not that we can’t find the answers, but that we don’t ask the big questions. Please, take time to ask the questions, and to think critically about the answers. Nothing will ultimately be more important.

My Life

Favorite Quote

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.” - Francis Chan

Friends describe me

eccentric, hard-working, sometimes silly

My hobbies

riding horses, playing with my dogs, hiking, kayaking, backpacking, playing cello

My undergrad alma mater

University of Missouri-Rolla

My worst subject in school

handwriting!

In college I drove

an old Buick Skylark that my grandparent didn't want anymore

If I weren't a professor, I would

too many options! - doctor, farmer, naturalist, pastor?

Favorite books

Anything by Richard Foster. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien are also great. James Herriot and Gerald Durrell for entertainment.

Favorite movies

My Fair Lady (weird, but I like the songs)

Favorite city

Olympic National Park

My latest accomplishment

Raising three kids! (in progress)

Current Research

Combining drone and geophysical measurements for soil characterization and levee assessment. Using satellite-based data for aquifer characterization.