The Orinoco River and The Bumblebee

The Orinoco River is the largest river in South America. It rises on the western slopes of the Parima Mountains along the border between Venezuela and Brazil. It flows in a giant arc through Venezuela for approximately 1,700 miles and enters the Atlantic Ocean near the island of Trinidad. It is the uttermost of South America's four major river systems. The aquatic fauna include the piranhas and the Orinoco crocodile. The river basin is largely inhabited by indigenous Indian groups.

The Casiquiare canal-Orinoco River hydrographic divide is a representation of the hydrographic water divide that delineates the separation between the Orinoco Basin from the Amazon Basic. The Orinoco Basin is west-north-northeast flowing, into the Caribbean; the Amazon Basin is east-flowing into the western Atlantic. Essentially, a west-flowing, upriver section of Venezuela's Orinoco River has an outflow to the south in to the Amazon Basic. This named outflow is the Casiquiare canal, which as it heads downstream, picks up speed and also accumulates water volume. During flood stage, the Casiquiare's main outflow point into the Rio Negro is supplemented by an overflow that is second, and more minor entry river bifurcation into the Rio Negro and upstream from its major entry confluence.

The bumblebee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. Bumblebees are social insects characterized by blank and yellow body hairs, often in bands. But some species have orange or red on their bodies, or may be entirely black.

According to 20th century folklore, the laws of aerodynamics prove that the bumblebee should be incapable of flight, as it does not have the capacity (in terms of wing size or beats per second) to achieve flight with the degree of wing loading necessary. It is believed that the calculations which purported to show that bumblebees cannot fly are based upon a simplified linear treatment of oscillating aerofoils. The method assumes small amplitude oscillations without flow separation. This ignores the effect of dynamit stall, an airflow separation inducing a large vortex above the wing, which briefly produces several times the lift of the aerofoil in regular flight. More sophisticated aerodynamic analysis shows that the bumblebee can fly because its wings encounter dynamic stall in every oscillation cycle. Another description of a bee's wing function is that the wings work similarly to helicopter blades, "reverse-pitch semirotary helicopter blades." Bees beat their wings approximately 220 times a second, which is 10-20 times as fast as nerve impulses can fire. Their achieve this because their thorax muscles not expand and contract on each nerve firing, but rather vibrate like a plucked rubber band.

Our marvelous world is full of mysterious wonders. From our perspective, it is "impossible" for a river to flow uphill--but the Orinoco River runs uphill for many miles. From our perspective, it is "impossible" that a bumblebee can fly. It is not possible aerodynamically. But a bumblebee flies. Now, experts have tried to "figure out" HOW these things happen. But from our simple-minded perspectives, these things are "impossible," AND YET they happen--all around us in many places and in many ways.

Some people argue that it was "impossible" that the Red Sea parted and the Israelites walked across on dry ground--as the Bible reports in Exodus 13:17-1:21. Some people argue that a "young Jewish virgin" was conceived of a child without having sexual relations with a male--as the Bible reports in Matthew 1:18-25.

According to Genesis 18:1-15, "three men" came to the tent of Abraham [age 99] and Sarah [age 89], announcing that Sarah would have a son in her old age. Sarah understandably "laughed" at such an absurd idea. But the Lord replied: "Is ANYTHING too wonderful [hard, impossible] for the Lord?" (verse 14). Jeremiah 32:17 rehearses this prayer of the prophet Jeremiah: "Ah, Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great hand and by your outstretched arm! NOTHING is too hard [difficult] for you."

I do not know about YOU, but I am not surprised that our CREATOR and SUSTAINER can and does "impossible" things all the time. After the Enlightenment, where "rationalism" predominates, this sounds foolish to many. But look around at all the phenomena around us. Many things, like the Orinoco River, like the bumblebee, are "impossible"--AND YET GOD MAKES THEM TICK!!!

What do YOU think? Is there ANYTHING that is "impossible" for God? Share your thoughts--with me, with many others.

John Willis