Land Reclamation - Bahrain Edition

The coast lines move here.  I don't mean the waves.   As in the country is getting bigger (but not just in terms of population).  I mean the actual, physical country is getting bigger.  As in its square mileage is increasing.  Usually a country has to take land from someone else to do that, but here its done differently.

Land reclamation.

You may have heard about Dubai, an instant city in the United Arab Emirates.  Its known for its extravagance and high spending (and now for the crash in its property market).  One of the things its know for are the man-made islands that they have built from scratch off the coast.  See below.

This is land reclamation.  Taking sand and rock (of which Saudi Arabia has plenty to spare), dumping it just off the beaches and in effect extending the land.   I've known that Bahrain does this, and I know that they have done it for a long time.  People who have been here for a long time will sometimes say things like "the beach used to come to this road."

However, I was on google maps looking at Bahrain (of which google has extensively mapped) and I saw what the picture below.  This is a map of the northeast portion of the main island.  Its the main city center.  You can see in the top and right parts of the picture what look like roads on the ocean.  Maybe bridges or canals (like Venice).  However, I can tell you for a fact that those are not canals.  Instead, I think that the map is showing where the coastline USED to be.  Now it would be just beyond the furthest roads - and growing.

If you look closely, near the top center is an area called Ras Rumman.  Just south (near a grey area) is where Al Raja School (where I currently work) is located.  Our principal used to come through Bahrain when he was young, and he said that the beach was a short walk from Al Raja.  No longer.  It takes a little bit of walking to get there.

You can imagine how much Bahrain has changed over the last 50 years.  I often wonder what people who are in their 50's or older think about how Bahrain has changed so radically.  A couple of months ago, I was sent pictures of Bahrain from the 50's and 60's.  Maybe I'll post those pictures along with what the current area looks like!

Just for fun, you can click here to go to Bahrain in Google maps.  If you can find "Tubli", that's where Alison and I live.

For reference, the square in the top part of the island is the zoomed in area you see above. 

Old Earth Vs. Young Earth

Few topics cause more of a rise in passion and discussion in our household than the topic of young earth or old earth.  Is Genesis 1 literal?  Or figurative?  If its literal, how do we reconcile it with scientific data?  If its figurative, by what criteria do we label it figurative (lest we start labeling the parts of scripture that are inconvenient for us as figurative). 

However, "Get Fuzzy", one of our favorite comic strips, has provided a powerfully reconciliative answer.  I hope you find as much meaning and closure in this as I have.