You're listening to a bonus episode of the Daily Article podcast, written by Dr. Jim Denison and narrated by Chris Elkins.

Today's bonus episode is titled A Snake in the Drain and Rats in the Cellar.

Did you hear about the teenager who found a snake slithering out of her bathtub drain?

Tren, a 17-year-old from Baltimore, shared footage

of the encounter on TikTok where it has been viewed over 2.6 million times.

The tiny snake was emerging from the drain, so she turned on the water.

However, it began slithering up the side of the tub as Trin let out a scream.

She ran to her mother for help, who called a local maintenance man who killed the snake.

The snake would have been there whether Tren was there or not.

Her presence and TikTok video only revealed the reality that already existed.

In mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis reflected on his personal sins and his attempts to justify them.

The excuse that immediately springs to my mind is that the provocation was so sudden and unexpected,

I was caught off my guard. I had no time to collect myself. But then Lewis noted,

surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is

surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth he explained if there are rats in

the cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats.

It only prevents them from hiding. In the same way, the suddenness of the provocation does not

make me an ill-tempered man. It only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are

always there in the cellar. But if you go in shouting in noisily, they will have taken cover before you switch

on the light. In my daily articles last week, I focused on ways to trust God in challenging

times. Today, I'd like to add this factor. God redeems our suffering by using it to grow

us in ways we could not grow otherwise. As Walt Disney noted, difficulties make some people bitter and

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