Posted on 06/11/2017 9:04:58 AM PDT by OneVike
ATLANTA — Hours before a 17-year-old Alabama girl was killed in a bus crash, she wrote a final journal entry about her mission trip to Africa: "God has called me here and he's done so for a reason."
Sarah Harmening of Huntsville jotted her thoughts about the trip to Botswana in a spiral-bound notebook, starting with her feelings of sadness and apprehension. She wrote that she turned to the Bible for comfort and by the end of the journal entry, it was clear she found trust in the Lord.
"We get to participate in his divine nature! How awesome is that?" she wrote, according to a photo of the entry posted on Facebook.
The Mount Zion Baptist Church bus from Huntsville was headed to the Atlanta airport Thursday when it collided with a car on a four-lane road, authorities said. Dozens of high school students and adults were on board; at least 10 people were hurt.
Police said the driver of the bus tried to change lanes and collided with another car. The driver steered to the left, losing control, and the bus crossed an uneven median and rolled over, Fulton County Police said in a statement on Friday.
The bus also slid into a car travelling on the westbound side of the four-lane road. Police said Harmening died at the scene.
Images from the scene showed the bus on its roof and another car underneath it. The parkway where the crash occurred was completely closed and firetrucks and ambulances swarmed the area near Atlanta's airport.
Authorities said the 37 other people on the bus with Harmening had various injuries and were taken to hospitals, along with three people who were in the other cars involved in the crash. Police said no other injuries are life-threatening.
After some confusion over who was investigating the deadly crash, Fulton County police said they were handling the probe. The county had earlier said the NTSB would investigate.
Church education minister Terry Slay told Atlanta station WXIA-TV that the bus was carrying 11th- and 12th-graders, along with adults who were going on a an international mission trip.
(Excerpt) Read more at Lethbridge News Now ...
Sarah Lauren Harmening
December 20, 1999 - June 8, 2017
Born December 20, 1999, is her family’s most extraordinary surprise Christmas gift, second only to Christ Jesus himself. She is the embodiment of innocence and purity. Her precious innocent spirit loves to frolic in the fictional stories of bygone eras, her very favorite being that of Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott. Her purity was exemplified on earth through her rich and pure love for her family and friends, but most of all her unpolluted, unwavering and relentless love for Jesus Christ, her personal Lord and Savior. She lived and breathed to know Him and to make Him known. Her family is blessed by her prolific journaling chronicling a heart set on the relentless pursuit of Him. Sarah daily spent prolonged periods of time on the screened porch overlooking the trees basking in His presence through His Word and prayer. She lifted her prayers to Him out loud, mistakenly assuming those on the inside were unable to hear, thus blessing them with sweet music to Him that now echoes in the broken hearts of her grieving family.
Sarah was on mission to Botswana to share the love of Christ with whoever God assigned to her, but she was specifically looking forward to sharing Him with children. When anyone expressed concern about her going so very far from us, she was quick to respond full of faith, “I have prayed and I know God has called me to it, so whatever happens is within His will.” At lunch the day before she went home to our Lord and Savior she was discussing the faith of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Egypt after the recent mass martyring. She recalled reading the entirety of Jesus Freaks and how profoundly that impacted her. She said she used to worry that she would not have the courage to stand for Him like the martyrs in the book, but now knows that it is Him who enables them and us to stand, and would do so for her as well. Sweet Sarah took that final stand of fearless faith and surrender as she once again journaled out of the overflow of a heart surrendered to our heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ only moments before she stood in His presence, and she was, indeed, found faithful as she took her rank among those who previously inspired her so.
Sarah shared with her sisters that should she not come back from this assignment she so dutifully took, that her funeral was to be nothing less than a celebration. She wants everyone to wear their favorite colors, and clarified that black is unacceptable.
Sarah is survived by her parents, Scott and Karen, three sisters, Katelyn, Kristen and Sophie, her grandparents, Frank & Carolyn Cunningham (Huntsville), Jerry and Jane Harmening (Hazel Green), great-grandfather, David Moyers (Fayetteville, TN), step great-grandmother, Effie Harmening (Flintville, TN) and several aunts, uncles and cousins who also loved her dearly.
Wow! She sounded like a really sweet kid.You hate to see sad endings like hers.
She has gone to Glory. Prayers and sympathy for her Family and Friends!
Does anyone have advice on how to fix a blurry monitor?
As long as there is even one like this young lady, the gates of hell will not prevail against His own.
Very touching. Thanks for posting this. I’d like to see her journal entries as I think they could be inspiring.
I just saw an ad for a movie about Tupac Shakur. A truly vile monster who is being treated as a hero.
What a difference between what the media worships and an ordinary girl from Alabama.
Thank you so much for posting this. Her death has touched many lives, not only here in Huntsville but around the country. I thought this should be shared on this site. Thanks again. God bless.
“I have prayed and I know God has called me to it, so whatever happens is within His will.”
I’d like to see her journal entries as I think they could be inspiring.Yes I agree. I could not find anything on them other than this one her family shared, but my heart believes her parents may eventually share more. I'll keep an eye out and share them if, or when they do.
As a parent you always know this could happen and you try to hold your children with an open hand to their Creator. Having just dropped my own daughter off this morning at 3 a.m. on a foreign mission trip this feels pretty close to home.
He is in control and while it is so sad, but she is in glory enjoying fellowship with the One whom she served. Soon, her family will be with her again and in resplendent joy.
May God comfort this grieving family. Her faith is a deep testimony.
Yes, copy me if you’re able. Thanks.
Roy Rogers lost a Daughter in a church bus crash. They were going to a church camp.
Thank you onevike, and thank you Sarah. Found another quote from an earlier text in her day. God willing we should each be as fully in faith.
” Earlier in the day before she and her group left their homes, Harmening texted her friends a Bible verse, and told them, “We are like a wisp of smoke. We are only here for a moment and it’s not about us. Life is not about us. It’s about God, who is eternal, so I want to dedicate the one moment I’m here completely and entirely to him.””
I was recently reading about the shock comedian Sam Kinison. He too was killed in a car crash. His last moments were quite moving. I hope you don’t mind if I post something about that here.
From Wikipedia:
At first it looked like Kinison had suffered no serious injuries, but within minutes he suddenly said to no one in particular, “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.” LaBove [who was with Kinison] later said, “it was as if he was having a conversation, talking to someone else, some unseen person.” Then there was a pause as if Kinison was listening to the other person speak. Then he asked “But why?” and after another pause LaBove heard him clearly say: “Okay, okay, okay.’
LaBove said, “The last ‘okay’ was so soft and at peace.... Whatever voice was talking to him gave him the right answer and he just relaxed with it. He said it so sweet, like he was talking to someone he loved.” Kinison then lost consciousness.
Happened not too far from me and I was at the ATL airport yesterday for a roundtrip trip hosting my customers.
My prayers and condolences are with her family.
She’s in Jesus’s arms now - the best place to be in the universe.
God will be glorified in this.
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