The Rock + a Hard Place

By Missy Linkletter Trip Advisor When we were a family of seven, I dimly understood that there was no guarantee of tomorrow. But, on July 15, 2017, I saw in full the meaning of the phrase, "This life is a vapor." (James 4:14)   It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and my firstborn, Justin, and two of his buddies were taking a day trip to go to the lake. They met up at the local Cracker Barrel and enjoyed an early dinner together. Afterward, they piled into Justin's Explorer and headed out for the lake. After driving through the city, they turned onto the Apache Trail, which is known for its switchbacks and winding turns and an altogether dangerous state highway here in Arizona. As the story goes, Justin and his two friends were taking turns riding on the sideboards of his truck, one on each side. When it was Justin's to drive again, he slowly rounded a corner and then hit gravel. His two buddies jumped off of the sideboards when it was almost at a c

By Wendy Van Wingerden Unsplash “I surrender all … I surrender all.” Do I? Do I really surrender ALL? I wondered this as I stood singing a favorite hymn in church one Sunday. It was easy for me to consider the things in life that I could do without. My home, my possessions, my status, my talents, BUT…Oh! not my children or my husband. Those things, I could not, would not surrender. I could not imagine surviving without them. Fear of losing them strangled my inmost being, it consumed my deepest thoughts. If I surrendered them, He might take. My relationship with the Lord was growing deeper, yet something held me back. Something kept me from knowing Him fully. With each word of each song I sang, he beckoned me to him. “Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful, where the streams of abundance flow, blessed be your name.” God, you have bountifully provided for me, I know how to praise you in abundance. “Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering, though