Sometimes the most ordinary things become vessels for God’s deepest lessons. For Michael Spencer, a small aluminum fishing boat sitting in his family’s backyard became a lasting symbol of his father’s love, his own childhood resentment, and dreams that were never fulfilled. As a boy, Spencer couldn’t understand why his father was so different from other fathers. Only years later, through the eyes of faith and maturity, would he begin to see the depression, fear, and brokenness that had shaped his father’s life, and the love that had been present even when his father could not express it.

“The Boat in the Backyard” is ultimately more than a story about depression or a complicated father-son relationship. It is a story about living in a broken world and discovering that God’s grace meets us in the places where life has left wounds . . .