When Endings Are Complicated, God Is Still Gracious
On June 20, 1985, Jack Carter, his son Dave, and his grandsons, Dustin and Caleb, set out for a much anticipated wilderness camping trip in Yellowstone National Park.
On there journey across the lake to their favorite staging site, a freak storm came up and within seconds they were capsized and tossed into the rough and frigid water. They were only 75 yards from the shore, but regardless of how hard they tried, the wind and water seem to push them further and further from the shore.
Jack and little Dustin ended up together, clinging on a floating seat cushion; but, Dave and Caleb were lost.
After a while, the waves calmed a bit and Jack and Dustin began to feel a surge of hope. “We’re going to make it, Grandpa, We’re going to make it,” Dustin kept saying.
The water was just too cold. Soon Dustin’s words were slurred and less frequent. Jack kept urging to keep talking, but in the end, it was too much for Dustin.
“I tried,” Jack said, “to keep Dustin’s face out of the water. I thought I might be able to revive him once we reached the shore, but I couldn’t grip him tight enough. It was only a few yards from the shore when he slipped out of my frozen hands and into eternity.”
Journal Entry – July 25,1985
A Ranger's Journal 