This won’t surprise you, but I’ve learned surprisingly little since then. Mainly some fine tuning of the base theorem, but other than that, the essentials are right there.

Mostly what needed to change was the climbing a steep path metaphor.

“Here’s my other analogy for living as a Christian: you’re traveling up a steep rocky path from which it is very easy to stumble, but God is always there to lend a helping hand. All you have to do is reach for it.”

The problem with this metaphor is that it makes God external to you, when in fact he is internal. So, if I were to rewrite it, it would say “it is very easy to stumble, but God is always there to lend a helping…heart. Because he’s inside of you and can fill you with divine strength.” Yeah, that’s what I thought…it just doesn’t work. So let’s just scratch the “other analogy” that I ingeniously invented to look cool in front of other Christians. Which I don’t try to do very often. Because c’mon…how can ME look cool? (Especially with bad grammar ).

The only other thing I could have possibly learned is that it’s not just about God’s love, it’s God’s grace that helps us survive on this cursed Earth. And in the cup metaphor…it isn’t just God’s love…it is God himself! Man was made with an inner spirit that could contain God’s Spirit, and when we overflow with God’s Spirit in our human spirit, we just go around being happy all the time. So give THAT a try!