Let Creation Speak! An Invitation to Awe and Wonder by Michael Guillen, PhDSample

STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT

In 1835, Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, a young French mathematician, was the first to publish an explanation of the strange thing that happens whenever you try to travel in a straight line. In the Northern Hemisphere, you inevitably veer to the right. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you mysteriously veer to the left.

This perplexing phenomenon, Coriolis explained, is an illusion caused by our earthly perspective. When we set out to go straight, we tend to forget that the ground beneath us is constantly shifting, owing to Earth’s spin.

If a plane in Chicago takes off in the direction of New York City, it will never arrive there, because, during the journey, New York City has rotated out of position by several hundred miles. In order to reach its destination, therefore, the plane must follow a curved path, not a straight one.

Today we call this simple but confounding principle the Coriolis effect. And we now recognize its widespread significance. In the military, for example, the Coriolis effect skews the trajectories of long-range munitions. During World War I, the Germans bombarding Paris from seventy miles away had to adjust the aim of their Big Bertha guns by nearly a mile in order to strike the intended target.

In meteorology, the Coriolis effect causes straight air currents to veer right or left. In severe cases, the arching air currents develop into full-fledged hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, and anticyclones. Above all, we now understand that to someone whose perspective is not of this earth, the Coriolis effect doesn’t exist. From their lofty perspective, planes seemingly curving toward their destinations, bombs curving toward their targets, and air currents curving in Coriolis-like ways—are, in fact, all moving in straight lines!

REFLECTION

Your worldview, your personal point of view, guides your every decision; yet it isn’t always reliable. It routinely deceives you and keeps you from getting to where you want to go.

It’s as if you’re under the influence of your very own Coriolis effect. You set out with a dream and start working toward it, only to find that you’ve missed the mark. Maybe by a lot.

Naturally, you can become discouraged, and after many years of failure, quit trying.

Please don’t! Instead, pause and recalibrate your heading. Take into account that your perception of straight is not the same as God’s.

Allow for the possibility that, from God’s lofty perspective, you’re aiming at the wrong target.

Allow for the possibility that your lifelong dream isn’t what’s best for you—and

might even be what’s worst for you.

Allow for the possibility that your long, circuitous journey in life is taking you precisely where God lovingly and purposely wants you to go.