Oliver Wendell Holmes said: ‘I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must sail, and not drift.’ That reminds me of an elderly man I used to know who had spent half of his life in gaol and then, in his latter years, opened up his life to the transforming power of faith in God. He summed up his philosophy of life when he said, ‘I’d rather be ten yards from Hell and heading in the opposite direction than a hundred miles away and heading towards it.’ It also reminds me of the thief who was crucified next to Jesus, who said ‘Lord, remember me when you come you’re your kingdom.’ No matter how much of a mess we may have made of life, the crucial thing is not where we are, but the direction we’re heading.