Dear Readers,
Some times in our lives can feel particularly challenging, and at such times I often take encouragement from remembering two very good former colleagues who talked about “God’s best”. They rightly believed that, no matter what we do or don’t do and can or can’t do, there are no limits to what God can do, and when we use our free will well and trustingly follow His plan for us, then we sometimes get glimpses of “God’s best” unfolding in our lives.
Though the famous example of Noah faithfully building The Ark happened long ago, associated lessons regarding listening, responding, being faithful and persevering always remain important. A good quote full of hope is: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”–Galatians 6:9.
SNEAKY, FUN, WORD PUZZLE!!
Rearrange the 18 letters of GOD’S BEST IN A PURE ARK to make the word SUPER and a 13-letter proper English word which is your fun challenge to find!
NOAH JOKE!
What did the teacher say to a pair of students who had problems with Math?
“I Noah guy who can help. Then it’ll be plain sailing!”
SNEAKY, FUN, MATH PUZZLE!!
Imagine that you think of a really king-size whole number containing one million digits!! Let’s call your number K. If you tell me your K, I can then definitely think of two smaller whole numbers (let’s say A and R) so that A^R+R^A=K, where the letters directly after ^ represent exponents. Can you discover my secret method for choosing A and R so that A^R+R^A=K?
PERSEVERING AT CHESS
One of my chess team-mates in Belgium is a very strong International Master who is really likely to become a Grandmaster in the fairly near future. If he loses a game, he still endeavours afterwards to spot opportunities which might have saved the game–or could perhaps even have won it. Though the specific position above did not actually occur in practice, it is based on ideas from a recent encounter. It is White to play and win.
PUZZLE SOLUTIONS
SNEAKY, FUN, WORD PUZZLE!!
The 18 letters of GOD’S BEST IN A PURE ARK rearrange to make SUPER SKATEBOARDING!!
By the way, a young Maths student of mine was designing a skateboard in his free time. The decorative work was time-consuming, but Max persevered with it…
…and several days later the job was completed nicely.
SNEAKY, FUN, MATH PUZZLE!!
I choose A to be K-1 and R to be 1 (or vice-versa). Then A^R+R^A=(K-1)^1+1^(K-1), and that gives (K-1)+1, which makes a total of K exactly.
PERSEVERING AT CHESS
White wins beautifully with 1 Rh8+ Kg7 2 R1h7# or 1…Ke7 2 Qxf7+!! Kxf7 3 R1h7#, checkmate.
I will finish this article with another good quote: “Please grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know You, a heart to seek You, wisdom to find You, conduct pleasing to You, faithful perseverance in waiting for You, and a hope of finally embracing You”–St. Thomas Aquinas.
Paul Motwani 