Swimming in the Dead Sea

Swimming in the Dead Sea:

This will not be the longest message, as I am a little pressed for time, but I did want to give you guys somewhat of an update. My journey here in Jordan has now lasted about 5 days, and I am loving it!

One of the very neat things that I’ve been able to do is to visit

the Dead Sea and go river hiking in a stream flowing into the dead sea.

River Hiking:

I went up this stream, there was amazing pictures and sights to see. I made this trip with Dan (not his real name) who is living here, and Andrew (not his real name) who is currently eliminating drugs from Afghanistan. The whole trip was somewhat of a challenge, as we had to go up some waterfalls that were steep.

In fact, one waterfall that I was going up, I lost my footing (they were swept under me), and I went careening down the waterfall certain to be smashed upon the rocks below me (I most likely would have broken a few bones). Luckily with my right arm, I managed to grab ahold of a rope that was dangling, and with my left hand I snagged my baseball cap that was most certainly going to swept away by the current.

While we were there Dan told a story about how Elijah hid on the brook of Cherith, (location uncertain) to be fed by ravens. While it is uncertain where this brook is, one could certainly see how easy it would be to hide there for years.

One last object lesson, as we floated closer to the dead sea, we could see all of these fresh water fish swimming, edging closer to their impending doom. The Dead sea is almost 80% salt, and 20% water. Nothing is alive in it at all. These fish would die within minutes once they reached the waters-- spiritual application, it doesn’t pay to swim and float with the herd.

Dead Sea:

Also there, we swam in the Dead Sea. It

’s fantastic because you cannot actually swim, but really just float. Its nearly impossible to sink in the sea because your body is so buoyant. There I had my first mud bath, with the famous Dead Sea mud.

Well, true to promise, I didn’t have much time to discuss in fantastic details all that is going on, but instead I hope you enjoy a few of these pictures. Check out my facebook for pictures in fuller detail.

Salem (Peace),

Greg