Trust and Obey

Quick! All mathematicians and logicians, physicists out there! Can you figure out this problem, one of the questions in the high school national tournament televised several weeks ago (my sister sent me a DVD of it)? It's the highest caliber quiz show I have ever seen. Many of these high schoolers are geniuses with photographic/phonographic memories. The following problem came in the semi-final round:


直径１０ｋｍの隕石が衝突した時発生した津波の高さは？　（If a meteor 10 km in diameter were to strike the earth in the Pacific ocean, how high would the wave created on impact be?）



You CAN'T be serious!

You should have heard the buzz in the audience. It doesn't seem like I was the only one saying: "For real?!"

You have twenty minutes to solve the problem. Ready--go!

What was even more surprising was the reaction of the students of the four teams competing. They were discussing things with teammates, scribbling down computations and drawing diagrams...ALL FOUR TEAMS came up with solutions, but all four were different numbers.

And the correct number is...319 m! (That's what I would've guessed, right? Right?)

The captain of the team that got the right answer said the size of the meteor was used to calculate the energy created on impact (weight times speed); the next calculation was how much a 4 km-radius pillar of water could be removed with that amount of energy; then the density of water was used to arrive at the height of the wave. The final equation the team used was: 1/2 MVsquared=mgh (Of Course! Huh?)

It was what he said next that stayed with me. He figured out the logic of what needed to be done; he told his teammates what they needed to look for, and they divided up the mathwork to get the answer. These are exceptionally bright students, but they did not ask their captain to explain fully until they were satisfied before setting out to work; they just did the calculations they were asked to do. And it was that team that arrived at the correct answer.

If only I would learn to do the same thing too: leave it up to God to figure out what needs to be done; and merely do as He asks me to do. When problems ARE ”comprehend-able”, manageable to my little mind, He will explain them to me. "...for all things that I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you." (Jn. 15:15) But at other times, I need to stop asking Him to wait until I understand/agree; just do what He asks me to do. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29)