30 Anniversary – Special Edition
Tonight is the last night of Teen Camp. But its also the 4th of July. And it’s a special anniversary for me, so I wanted to send a special edition prayer letter. I’ll be sending another letter about this week of camp in the next couple days, but I felt compelled to share these two stories below as testimony today to God’s enduring faithfulness in my life.
July 4, 1996
30 years ago today, my life changed forever. I knew at the time something significant had happened, but I didn’t know it would become one of the most significant stories of my life.
July 4, 1996. Yellowstone National Park. Just three weeks shy of my 15th birthday. I was on a trip with a group of other teens from my church. We were taking the scenic route on our way to go help put on a summer kids program for a small rural church in Clyde Park, Montana. On the drive to Yellowstone, we happened upon a parking lot that had both a restroom and a fireworks stand. Many people took the opportunity to use the restroom, but us younger boys, with some dollars in our pockets that our parents had given us for souvenirs, headed straight for the fireworks. And it was a glorious fireworks stand. The kind of fireworks stand that a kid could only dream about.
As a kid, there was a mythical firework – or actually, firecracker – know as the M-80. I’d heard an M-80 once. I was at my grandparents place at the beach. Everyone went inside, and my grandfather lit the M-80. The boom shook the whole trailer. I remembered that boom.
Here I was, at a fireworks stand with my friends, other teenage boys who would also love to light fireworks and hear them explode. On the table, there was a box full of fireworks with the label “M-80.” I’d never seen one in the wild, and now I had the opportunity to purchase some for myself. And so I did. And so did the others with me. We all walked away, back to the vans, with grocery bags full of explosives and dreams. We had great hopes for the best 4th of July fireworks display we’d ever experience.
Our naivete lasted only a short time, before we entered Yellowstone National Park. As it turned out, there were more than a few restrictions on fires and fireworks. In fact, on fear of the severest of punishments, there would be no fireworks that night. Apparently, in the summer of 1988, massive wildfires converged on Yellowstone, burning nearly 800,000 acres. You could still feel and see the effects of those fires in 1996. The park wasn’t interested in seeing some dumb teenage boys light the next forest fire, so even thinking about our fireworks was strictly forbidden.
But it was the 4th of July! We were in a National Park on our country’s birthday, and we had everything we needed to celebrate the right way. With loud booms and bangs! What a disappointment.
Later that evening I was tossing a football with a handful of guys who were on the trip. I was happy to keep football until the sun had set completely, but some of the girls from our team had gone up to a nearby hillside. They were singing. They were singing every church song they knew. Not my cup of tea. I knew the songs, but standing on a hillside singing didn’t sound like my idea of a good time. I’d rather throw a football, thanks.
As dusk was setting in, though, our leaders rounded all of us up and brought us to that hillside. A lightning storm had formed, far off in the distance. But because we were up high, and because the fires had turned so many trees into standing twigs, it felt like we could see forever. I stood there, reluctantly singing these songs with the rest of the team. And the lightning bolts crash. And the thunder shook us. And something happened that I wasn’t looking for.
God grabbed my attention that night. I can’t explain it very well but standing there singing songs that were written for the purpose of worship, I suddenly found myself doing something I’d never really done before. I was worshipping. I had sung these songs countless times. But this was the first time that the singing was more than singing. God changed me that night.
I wept on that hillside. I thought I had an awesome plan for the 4th of July, but my little fireworks were nothing in comparison to the God of the Universe, who chose for that night to display His power to me and to our entire team in a lightning storm that was far greater than our rinky-dink M-80’s. (They were definitely knock-off M-80’s, we would later learn. More like M-8’’s.) It was that night that God took hold of my attention, showing me His power and compelling me by His great love for me. And I have walked with Him since that day.
July 4, 2012
14 years ago, with a backyard filled with people who’d come for a BBQ and to celebrate the 4th of July, Leanne and I received an incredible and unexpected surprise. That next day we were scheduled to leave with a group to come serve for a week at Rock Nest Ranch. We even had a couple house guests with us who had flown up from Arizona, who would be travelling with us.
Leanne called me into the bathroom and handed me a small plastic rectangle. Two lines. She was pregnant. It was a flood of emotions. Less than a year prior, we had entrusted our daughter, Kaia, into the Lord’s hands after 20 short days of life. We were broken, even still a year later. And yet, there was a new hope. This girl, who would be named Mabel, was being fearfully and wonderfully knit together inside Leanne. Needless to say, we were overcome with emotion, and it was hard to compose ourselves to go back out and visit with our guests. We weren’t ready to tell the world, so we would go on like nothing had happened.
The Lord could have allowed us to learn that Leanne was pregnant on any day. We could have discovered it on July 3rd or July 5th. But in His kindness, God allowed us to discover this news on July 4. After walking through an incredibly painful season of loss, He was reaffirming to us that He is and will be enduringly faithful.
We would eventually announce the big news about Leanne’s pregnancy at Kaia’s first birthday party, a gathering of family and friends in our backyard. Happy 4th of July!
Prayer Need
- Leanne, Mabel, Estelle, and Rosie are in Lynden tonight, and they are scheduled to cross the border into Canada early in the morning on July 5. Pray for easy crossing and safe travel for the next two days. They are scheduled to arrive at Rock Nest on July 6.
Conclusion
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.” – Psalm 136:1
Ryan and Leanne Donovan
