Just yesterday I returned home from my first trip to Israel. Wow, it was a trip that I will never forget. It certainly helped to put countless biblical events into perspective. One of the interesting things I noticed while in Israel is that there are two seas. You know them, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is alive. It is still fished by local people, and its banks are alive with lush vegetation. In stark contrast to the Sea of Galilee is the Dead Sea. It is appropriately named, because nothing lives in its waters, and the land that surrounds it is barren and desolate.

How can two seas, which are so close together, be so different? Both seas are fed by the same water supply, the Jordan river. So what accounts for one being alive and the other dead? The answer is this simple. The Sea of Galilee not only receives fresh water from the Jordan, but it gives that same fresh water on to the Dead Sea. However, while the Dead Sea receives the fresh waters from the Jordan, it has not outlet, it doesn’t give, it hoards all that it receives, and is thus dead.

Come to think of it, there are two kinds of people in this world. Which are you?

Steve Higginbotham