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) and confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10). 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