Grenada or Granada? Does the difference really matter? It does if you’re trying to reach one instead of the other!

A Maryland man is suing British Airways after the airline flew him to Grenada rather than his intended destination, Granada. While the spelling difference may be slight, the geography isn’t. Grenada is a country located in the Caribbean Sea; Granada is a city in the country of Spain.

The passenger first noticed a problem when the electronic flight monitor showed his flight from London to Spain heading west over the Atlantic toward the Americas. He asked a flight attendant, “Why are we headed west to go to Spain?” he said.

His response was: “Spain? We’re going to West Indies,” the passenger reported.

It was a booking mistake off by one letter but spanning nearly 4,000 miles…..

A U.S. judge noted that the situation reflects the wisdom of Mark Twain’s comment that the “difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” *

Consider two ways and two destinations:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” – Matt 7:13-14

The WIDE gate and easy way is the way of sin that leads to destruction.

The NARROW gate and difficult way is the way that leads to eternal life.

Our sins condemn us, but God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we might receive salvation and the gift of eternal life (John 3:16; Romans 6:23). Jesus “opened the way” to heaven through His atoning sacrifice. Actually, Jesus IS the Way! “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Those who continue to seek to follow the “difficult and narrow way” are assured that they will continually be cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7).

“The most important thing for a human being is to arrive at the proper eternal destination. If we don’t get this destination right, nothing else matters.” – J. Randall Matheny

God said of Israel, “If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be!” – Deuteronomy 32:29. We also need to identify the road upon which we are traveling and consider its destination.

Grenada or Granada? The wrong destination can spoil a vacation. But even more importantly, it can have eternal implications.

David A. Sargent