"Honk!" roared the Mercedes Benz. "Honk-honk!"

Unfazed, the elderly man inched across Elizabeth Street. 

As the honker discovered, Mr. Garcia travels at his own pace. He uses a standard walker, the kind that has no wheels.

To be sure, he would move faster—and ruffle fewer feathers—if he used a motorized wheelchair. 

But if Mr. Garcia got in the habit of using someone else's wheels, he would soon lose the ability to get around on his own legs. 

The day I met Mr. Garcia, he was inching across Adams Street. "May I help you?" I said. Mr. Garcia smiled, but he didn't need my help. He just needed time. 

"Honk!" roared the Mercedes Benz on Elizabeth Street. The honker grimaced and threw up his arms. Mr. Garcia finally stepped out of the way.

If I could have spoken to the honker in the Mercedes Benz, I would have told him that his honking didn't sound encouraging. His honking was, well, just honking.

If you want to know the difference, don't ask the man in the Mercedes. He doesn't know.

If you really want to know, ask the experts—ask the geese.

Download the attached slideshow to see what I mean.

Since the 1990s, scientists have known that Earth emits a constant humming sound that can't be heard by human ears.

Scientists think the humming might be caused by the rumbling of the oceans or forces in the atmosphere. 

But the Earth doesn't just hum—it screams too.

As a story on space.com reports, "Earth emits an ear-piercing series of chirps and whistles."

These sounds, caused by cosmic particles colliding into the Earth's magnetic field, are "awful."

Scientists have known about this phenomenon since the 1970s. But to get to the whole truth, we need to go farther back than that.

Three thousand years ago, King David of Israel wrote:

"The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known" (Psalms 19:1-2 NLT).

Apparently, David knew all about the Earth's hum. And 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul wrote, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Romans 8:22 KJV).

Was Paul talking about the "ear-piercing series of chirps and whistles" heard in the recording made in space of the Earth's cries?

In Development As Freedom, Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Science, tells a story about Bertrand Russell. Russell, an atheist, was asked what he would do if he met God in the hereafter.

According to Sen, Russell is supposed to have said, "I will ask him: God Almighty, Why did you give so little evidence of your existence?"

The evidence is all around us—in the humming of the oceans and the cries of the Earth's magnetic field. That's why I have overflowing hope. 

And that's why some things are true even if—like Bertrand Russell—you don't believe them.

Picture this scenario: You come home with the groceries, put everything where it belongs, and go out for the evening.

When you get home, you decide to have a snack—except the cookies aren't where you thought they were. The next day the cold cuts are missing. Food is disappearing from right under your nose.

To solve the mystery, you decide to set up a hidden camera in your kitchen. That's what a man in Fukuoka, Japan, did. When the camera sent images of an intruder to the man's cell phone, he called the police.

The uninvited dinner guest was a 58-year-old homeless woman. She didn't break into the man's home that day. She had been living there, in an unused closet, for months (Reuters, 30 May 2008).

When I saw the Reuters story, I asked myself, "How could a stranger live in your house for a single day without being detected?" 

Then I came to a startling conclusion. We all have someone else living in our "closet"—in many cases, not just for a few months, but for an entire lifetime.

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2 NLT).