At the end of 1901, the Wright brothers were frustrated by the flight-tests of their 1900-1901 gliders. The aircraft were flown frequently up to 300 feet in a single glide. But neither aircraft performed as well as predicted using the design methods available to the brothers. But when they flew their airplane in 1903, they knew it would take off. How did they know?

After building and testing a small wind tunnel, the Wright brothers completed a larger, more sophisticated one in October 1901. The wind tunnel consisted of a simple wooden box with a square glass window on top for viewing the interior during testing. A fan belted to a one-horsepower engine, which ran the machinery in their bicycle shop, provided an airflow of about 30 miles per hour. They used the wind tunnel extensively to carry out aerodynamic research that proved essential in designing their 1903 airplane.

Writing specifically about the Book of Proverbs, Ray Ortlund offers some words of wisdom that apply to the entire Bible: "This is what the Book of Proverbs [and the entire Bible] are for. We can explore a real-life situation within the virtual reality of a proverb [or the Bible]. We can know in advance what is going to fly and what is going to crash. Biblical wisdom [or the revelation in the Word of God] tells us what life is really life."