My dad always worried his boat might sink, not his truck. It was a beautiful day on lake havasu! Thanks to mom and dad, we were here for a super fun vacation. Dad and James were at the boat launch while the rest of us waited near the London bridge.  Upon hearing the news we couldn’t believe it. Dad put the truck in park like he has hundreds of times. He got out of the truck to go help James get the boat off the trailer. Just moments later he noticed the truck moving backward and before they could unhook the boat or the trailer the truck had been pulled in  to the lake by the weight of the boat. They were able to recover the truck from the bottom of the lake, but it was damaged beyond repair. It was taken to a junkyard where it was destroyed. Luckily, the boat didn’t sink too and everyone was safe. My dad is sad of course! (it was new and his favorite truck!) For a month now he’s had nightmares and blamed himself going over and over again what he could’ve done different. It was a whole lot of money gone and now he didn’t have a way back home.

Because we are born into a fallen world free falling toward permanent death and destruction, the atonement, from the very beginning was put in place to rescue us. Sin is a slippery slope. A crisis of faith is slippery slope. Like the Moss  that covered the boat ramp we can forget miracles and signs from heaven. They give us the traction we need to get us home. Because of sin and simply living in this fallen world, we can be pulled down to the very depths of hell at times.  We can feel pulled under before we have time to get out. Some things like drugs and immorality do this quicker than others. But no matter the depth or how many times we think we have fallen, The Savior of us all stands on the water and reaches down to you, and to me. He pulls us up and encircles us in the arms of his love. Elder Holland said  “I don’t know who may need to hear the message of forgiveness but however late you think you are, however many mistakes you feel you have made, however far from home you feel you have wandered, I testify you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s atonement shines.”

Unlike my dad’s truck which was beyond repair, Jesus’s atonement makes it so that we are whole again! There are no signs of water damage if we sincerely and truly repent. We don’t need to remember and agonize over past mistakes, the atonement can heal that part too. All we need to remember is the gratitude we felt for the miracles we witnessed, for the guilt that was swept away, and the sting of sin that was replaced with Christ’s pure love…We simply need to get in he car and start driving home again.

on another note, I cant ignore another simple analogy here. I love my parents! They gave me an idyllic childhood! They organized and paid for us to have this little trip.. .in the end they sacrificed the most. They didn’t do anything wrong when this happened, it just happened. And despite it ,we had a wonderful time and grew closer as a family. Every day I feel my heart growing in gratitude for what God the Father did for me in sacrificing His only begotten son. I’m grateful He allowed His most precious son to suffer for me causing more pain and agony than even Christ himself could’ve imagined. Parents are such great examples of sacrifice. Even if all they did was give us a chance at this life it would be enough. But, I think usually they try very hard to do all they can, to give us all they have, so we might have joy. And that is exactly what our perfect Heavenly parents have done.