Here’s a bit more wisdom from Rich Mullins, from that 1997 concert in Lufkin, TX:
You know, people go to Ireland, and they come back and they have those really beautiful, big sweaters, real big, bulky, and they’ve got all kinds of stitches and stuff in them. Well, they started doing that because each of those different stitches are different charms and prayers and stuff that they would weave into their husbands’ sweaters. If it worked, then their husbands would come back alive, and if it didn’t, because fish don’t eat wool, they could tell who was who by what sweater was on them. . . .So go out and live real good and I promise you’ll get beat up real bad. But, in a little while after you’re dead, you’ll be rotted away anyway. It’s not gonna matter if you have a few scars. It will matter if you didn’t live. And when you wash up on that other shore, even though you’ve been disfigured beyond any recognition, the angels are gonna see you there and they’ll go, “What is this? We’re not even sure if it’s human.” But Jesus will say, “No, that’s human. I know that one.” And they’ll say, “Jesus, how do you know that one?” And he’ll say, “Well, you see that sweater he’s got on?”