break time

I'm taking a break from writing my script, even though I really shouldn't. The reason being... for one thing I need a break. But for another thing... I had a sort of epiphany.

While trying to condense 3 years of Jesus' ministry into a play, I came across this verse: "you are the salt of the earth. but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

I've always just taken that verse to mean that we should have an influence on people, otherwise why are we here? And also that... our saltiness should be something that adds flavor to life for other people... that we are what makes life interesting and worth living. But I started thinking- is it actually possible for salt to lose its saltiness? I mean, salt has a specific chemical makeup... if anything changes won't it not be salt? it can't just be salt and not salty.

Luckily, I know a bunch of Really Smart People, who live on the Engineering campus. And one of my RSP friends minored in chemistry. And here's a bit of what he said:

Puhasol: salt refers to any of many ionic compounds
Puhasol: some of which may not actually taste salty
Puhasol: i haven't tasted them
Puhasol: so i couldn't tell you
Me: oh... but...
Me: back then... would those ionic compounds have been available to the jews? would it be possible for salty salt to break down into non-salty salt, just by sitting in a jar?
Puhasol: oh no
Puhasol: NaCl will be NaCl in a jar for eternity
Puhasol: unless you put some other thing in there
Me: so... lets say Jesus has NaCl in a jar that everyone uses for cooking. its nice and salty. can your "some other thing" be floating around an ancient Jewish kitchen and accidentally fall into the jar of NaCl, thereby rendering it unsalty?
Puhasol: i forgot my ionic affinities
Puhasol: i used to have them memorized in order
Me: ok... well i guess its not really that important... i guess its more important to understand the concept of what jesus was talking about... but not knowing anything about chemistry i figured i'd ask
Puhasol: basically something that likes Cl better or Na better has to come around and pull them apart

And that got me to thinking... I know I used to fit the description of "salt of the earth," at least in terms of... setting an example for people, and being there for others, particularly other kids in my youth group. But what about now? Have I lost my saltiness? What would it take to make me unsalty? Something would have to come along and identify with one part of me, but not with another. So lets just say for kicks and giggles that the sodium is God in my life. And then the chlorine in me would have to say I like that something better than I like the sodium, and the two would be pulled apart, and then bang... I'm not salty anymore.

Hmm... I think thats more educational than my brain can handle right now. I'm only a theater major after all. But seriously... what would it take to change my spiritual chemical makeup? Am I salty? I have no idea. And if I'm not, I have no idea when I changed.