Today I attended the funeral of our friends’ daughter Savannah Deann Nash, 16 years old and 8 days. Our daughters grew up with her, and she spent the night several times at our house with our daughters Eden and Leah for girls’ night sleepovers.
What I remember most about her is that she was shy (as a child), had such a sweet spirit and had such a beautiful smile.
On Thursday, May 16, Savannah was tragically killed in a car wreck when she turned left to go north onto highway 7, an area that had heavy road construction with trucks and equipment (and no flagman), and she didn’t see a semi-truck on the highway coming toward her. She had just recently gotten her license and her car. She was on her way to the grocery store to get items for the family dinner.
16. Savannah was a beautiful girl, inside and out. Her smile lit up a room and she had such a strong faith in Jesus and a sincere, huge love for everyone. To help you understand what kind of impact she had on everyone around her, today the officiating pastor of her church said that over 2,000 people attended her viewing yesterday. I believe it because I was there for over three hours with our daughter Heather, and people just kept coming through the church doors. I didn’t see how her family stood there so long, talking to everyone in line giving their condolences to the family~ but by the grace of God.
As I watched with a heavy heart Savannah’s parents at the funeral today, I thought, How does one bury a child?
I can’t imagine anything worse. It would be unbearable. I don’t think I could stand it.
Yet God did it.
He allowed and watched His only son Jesus die a torturous death on a cross over 2,000 years ago, so you and I wouldn’t have to die for our sins. Then God raised Him from the dead so you and I could have a relationship with God and live with Him in heaven forever.
And so in times of intense grief like today, we could know His comfort, mercy, and love.
The kind of love Savannah knew, lived, and shared so well.
Savannah was endearing to all who knew her. She was a burning, flaming light in a dark world, with her beautiful smile, her happy little giggle, and her sweet, genuine spirit.
She loved her family and her friends – and oh, how obvious it was yesterday and today that she was well loved! Her great, God-like love convicts me. Lord, teach me to love You and others in that pure and sincere way.
Today at the funeral we laughed and we cried. We watched a power point slideshow of pictures from Savannah’s life from babyhood to her recent 16th birthday. We heard how creative and artistic Savannah was, constantly drawing art and writing poems.
We listened to the heart-breaking, daddy-little girl song, Butterfly Kisses.
We heard a salvation message at the end of the service, something Savannah would have wanted because her relationship with God was real and intense. She loved to worship God at church.
She’s now worshipping Him in heaven, forever.
I told a friend today that she wouldn’t have wanted me or anyone else to lay hands on her and command her to live in the name of Jesus. No, she wouldn’t have wanted to be raised from the dead. She’s perfectly at peace and full of joy where she’s at now, in God’s presence.
Will you be there when it’s your time? Do you know Jesus as Savior?
Today we celebrated Savannah. She’d want us to celebrate Jesus, family, friends, and life.
Thank you, Savannah, for being such a wonderful role model to so many. You were a beautiful person, inside and out. Your life will continue to impact many people, even in death.
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ~ 1 Corinthians 15: 55-56, NASB
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FYI: It is being widely reported in the news that she was texting and driving, but there’s NO proof whatsoever of this, and her father Paul Nash refutes this on his Facebook page. You can read what he said at the end of this post.
Here is Savannah’s dad Paul Nash’s post about the news reports about Savannah texting and driving:
Hey everyone don’t believe the propaganda that’s is floating around in papers and on he news Savannah Nash wasn’t texting the only reason she wrecked was because of inexperience in driving and the road construction from MODOT had the left lane blocked with a asphalt chipper and large gravel trucks were in her lane of sight she couldn’t see around all the men and trucks and equipment there was al…so there was no flag man to flag people down and there was no slow Down sign of speed limit sign to reduce speeds. As soon as the crash took place The Missouri highway patrol And the cass county sheriffs office decided To remove the extra Equipment to reduce congestion for traffic while dealing with the scene if the accident . Savannah Nash would not even touch her radio dials yet because of fear of hurting someone else. She was in front of I Stephanie Nash just one minute before the wreck took place her car only went 75 ft from our drive way and she was texting in front of her step mom not in the car that’s why they are releasing this info about texting she threw her phone in the passenger seat and headed to town. Savy would never have been disobedient of the laws of driving she still lacked confidence in her driving as it was . The road crew just flat out made It difficult for her to see and that caused her a blind spot that is the simple truth to this accident she was being obedient as always . There is two things I can’t stand in life and people’s insensitivity to our situation from themedia is number one they have given out info before the family even new of our loss and the sheriffs office has spoken out of turn with no evidence in the crash scene they just found a phone and that’s the facts the phone was broken prior to the scene it was my old phone I should know. There is a lot of issues with te fact of people not caring about us as a family they are just using Savannah Nash to build a case campaign as to make examples of kids now to save lives later . If that’s what they want to do rather than be sensitive then I gues so forgive them but don’t care For it at all and they will all have to deal with theirselves. Thanks for listening to my heart . Sincerely Savannah Nash Dad
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