God's surprise in the Mountains

Posted by Dan and Carole McClelland |0 comments

As promised, this blog is about a BIG surprised that God had for us in the mountains of West Virginia. The place where we stayed for our June family vacation, was about an hour- and -a -half away from Circleville, West Virginia, where Dan would go on summer mission trips with his home church, Bethany Presbyterian, during his teen years. The whole youth group, would drive to WV and do a Vacation Bible School (VSB) for the kids that live in the mountains. In the afternoon, there would be fun optional activities like hiking or visiting the highest point in WV at Spruce Knob. Dan has many memories from those years and often uses them when teaching our staff. Before I proceed further into this story, you have to understand something about Dan and me and our relationship; we LOVE pursuing each other! We love learning new things about each other and often try to find things the other person does not know. When we find something, we always get excited. I love this about our marriage. So as Dan was sharing, I saw it as an opportunity to learn more about my husband and what made him the man he is today. Therefore, we decided while on vacation to go as a family to some of the places he went with his youth group. 

On our honeymoon in CA in June 2009

On the way, Dan was recounting his high school memories about the mission week and the fun times he had each year. He posed a few questions: I wonder if they are still doing the mission trip? Were the kids impacted through our week VBS trip? Since moving into missions, we have not had a lot of contact with his old church and did not know if they still did the week-long trip. However, we both agreed that the kids of WV were impacted through the VBS and there was lasting fruit even if we did not know or see it! 

We arrived at Seneca Rocks, one of the places he went each year, and did a beautiful hike. It was a beautiful day. Then we continued on to the highest point in WV, Spruce Knob. Dan showed me all the places where he and his friends had races, climbed rocks or just hung out on top. We had Olive climb rocks and run around in the grass as I laid down with the sun beaming down on me. It was a great day learning more about my husband, but it was time to go as Olive needed a nap. 

We were on our way down the rocks to go back to the van, when a group of young boys raced passed us; then some girls, walking at a slower pace, came into view followed by some older adults. Dan was ahead of Olive and me and some faces in that group seemed familiar to him. He heard a woman say, "Hey, that looks like Daniel McClelland." Dan replied, "I am Dan McClelland." Yes, it was God answering Dan's question in a miraculous way: “Yes, the youth group is still making the trips and here they are talking to you!”

All of us could not believe the "God sighting" that was happening and knew that God had a reason for having us bump into each other in this surprising way! There were so many details that only God could have lined up for us to meet: us having a week vacation the exact same week as the VBS, the day that we chose to go hiking was the day they planned to go too, we both chose the same path to walk as there are two paths that lead up the mountain, and the exact timing of our intersection was crucial to us even meeting. All of this points clearly to our God! 

We stood shocked for a moment and then quickly caught up about our life as many of the leaders where the same 11 years ago when Dan was in HS. We then parted ways after praying together. As we were about to leave, the leader, Dave, invited us to join them for a camp dinner that night at 6 pm. We said we would think about it and went our separate ways. As we drove off, we decided that we had to take this opportunity and go to dinner. We drove until Olive was asleep and then parked to pray, asking God what He wanted us to share when we would see people at the dinner. God highlighted that we should encourage the faithfulness of these leaders and of the church to send people on this VBS trip year after year. We also wanted to communicate the impact it has made on Dan and how it has shaped him into the man of God he is today. Lastly, we wanted to share the truth that each of the teens had so much to give the kids in the VBS. 

We drove into the same campsite that Dan had stayed at during high school. For me, the city girl, the stories Dan told me of building a dam in the river to take a bath because the camp did not have working showers was surreal. As we arrived, they saw us and a man shouted, "They came!" We stayed for 2 hours, encouraging each other. I had the opportunity to meet many leaders that have poured into Dan and was able to thank them personally, as I have received the benefit of the time and effort they gave 11 years ago. Dan noticed that many of the leaders were the same as when he was in HS. We were amazed once again by the Faithfulness of God. We learned that this was the 31st year they have been leading the trip, and that many of the WV kids they attended the VBS in the beginning were now sending their kids to the VBS! 

What a great reminder that as we stay faithful to God’s calling on our life,
He will produce much fruit to the next generation.