A young boy was touted as the next Einstein. One of the world’s greatest thinkers was brought in to test him to see how smart he really was… They set him down and gave him an exam. On the exam there was ONE question alone…
“Using a barometer, how would you determine the height of a building?”
The boy read the question, quickly wrote an answer and turned it in to the examiner. The examiner was quite surprised the young boy finished so quickly.. He read the answer.
“I would tie a sting to the barometer, lower it until it touches the ground, and then measure the string to determine the height of the building.”
The examiner said, “While that would work, that is not the answer I am looking for. Please try again..”
The boy went back to his desk.. He was troubled.. he was scratching his head and in such concentration that the examiner thought to ask him if he was OK… if he needed some help. Was he having difficulty coming up with an answer?
The boy replied, “oh no… that’s not my trouble… I have so many good answers I cannot decide which one to write down.”
Eventually the boy wrote down a formula involving barometric pressure to calculate the height above sea level and determine the building’s height.
The examiner was satisfied with the answer, but was also curious… “Do you mind telling me what some of your other answers were?”
The boy replied:
“I could measure the length of the barometer and then use it to mark the wall in the stairwell. When I reached the top I would multiply the marks on the wall by the length of the barometer and would be able to calculate the height of the building.”
“Or I could drop it from the top of the building and use a stop watch to time the fall. I could then use the formula for gravity and acceleration to determine the height of the building.”
“Or I could get up early and as the sun rises, measure the shadow cast by the barometer and the shadow cast by the building and using a simple ratio, determine the height of the building according to proportion.”
The boy continued with several more ideas.. Eventually the examiner asked him, “What was your favorite solution?”
The boy replied, “I would go to the guardhouse and show the barometer to the guard. I would tell him how this was such a wonderful barometer and all the wonderful things it could do for him.. I would then tell him… If you will only tell me the height of this building I will give you this barometer for free”
There are many solutions to a problem… Sometimes we are so intent on elaborate strategies and methods to solve a problem that we forget the simple things… Maybe we should just ask…
Are you bringing your problems to God?
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.