The Great Circle

October 26, 2022

When is the shortest distance between two points not a straight line? When it’s a “great circle route.”

This confused me in middle school. If you draw a straight line on a map from Atlanta to, for instance, Moscow, it does not match the route the airlines take. Their path looks like an arc. Why would a large company not choose the straightest route? Do they just plan to use extra fuel to waste money?

The answer is that a straight line, drawn on a sphere like our planet, will look like a curved line on a flat map. The curved line is the shortest route!

It reminds me that my idea of the shortest way to succeed at something can often miss the mark. I think I know the most direct way to go from ‘here’ to ‘there,’ but I don’t know all the possibilities. I just plod ahead, and find out later that I took the long way.

Did you ever plot a path for your best life, and find out later God had a better way? Usually my plan does not include any hardships, tough times, or disappointments. Those things can bring an increased maturity, but I’m usually blind to that consideration. Persons that I ignore could provide insights that I don’t have. Hard subjects I don’t want to tackle can be a short cut “through the forest.”

I think I’ve learned to let God be my guide. In retrospect, some of my own ideas have been badly misinformed.

Matthew 7:24, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock.”