The Over the course of life the baggage adds up the barnacles stick to the hole over time

And that can be a really bleak outlook on life except for this other great truth of life, which is that there is such a thing as

redemption.

There is such a thing as getting things straightened out.

There is such a thing as admitting problems and changing course. And if you get to a place in life where you don't believe people can change

I think you're in a very very bleak place

But there's always hope there's always optimism for yourself for others for situations when you believe that change is possible, that redemption is possible.

For one, especially believe that because even though I fully understand that there

are a bunch of you who are here who aren't sure what to make the whole God thing for me I do

think there's a God I think he's the one described in the Bible and I think this is a God who

intervenes in the world in people's lives and I think that redemption is not just

some abstract concept but I think it's something that is miraculous in its nature.

I think if anything is redeemed, God gets credit for that.

And I think that there's a degree of optimism that I'm able to hold on to even in my most cynical moments.

Now, it's because so much that, you know, I think I can change and I can figure everything out,

but because I do think this God is an actual being, the actual all-powerful being, and I do think this God is very into redemption.

All of that said.

Seems like there are certain patterns to how redemption, how turning the ship around, how scraping the

barnacles off of the hole, how escaping the lost woods, how stopping the wheels from spinning in place,

how whatever metaphor you want to use.

It seems like there's a certain pattern that occurs when that works out.

And I think we're witnessing that pattern

...