I did not realize that there were many kinds of salt. I knew of table salt and kosher salt, but very little more than that. There is sea salt and a variety of gourmet salts in this category including several kinds of gray salt like Fleu de sel, selgris and Celtic sea salt. There is kala namak (black salt) and Hawaiian black salt. There are red salts like Himalayan salt. There are flake salts including maldon salt from England. There is Dead Sea Salt and salt from the Great Salt Lake in Utah. There is curing salt and pickling salt and even smoked salt. All of them are Sodium Chloride with other minerals that add color and some small taste variations. But if the salt has lost its flavor it is useless as a seasoning. Throwing it out on the road to melt the ice or hold down the dust is its only continuing value. Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth. If we can be as useful as salt we will surely bless the people around us. We could easily draw analogies from salt to our purposes in God’s world. The different kinds, colors, and origins of salt gave me a new picture of Christian diversity. We are all essentially the same but our differences add color, flavor, and texture to all the places where we Christians find ourselves as long as we retain that essential Christian saltiness.