A Father's Speech

Here is Tom's speech from Hannah's funeral.

I sat down the day before yesterday and tried to write down what I wanted to say today. When I had filled 3 A4 pages I thought it was getting a little too long. The last 9 weeks have been very eventful and emotional and there are many things that link together and only make sense in the larger context.

Today we are together to commemorate Hannah, and Ally has talked about some of the things that we will remember her for. Despite her short life we have many memories that we cannot just forget. We have been with her ​​when she was all right and was smiling. We were there when it went bad and she lay crying. We have seen God do miracles, so even the doctors stood speechless. We were there when God took her soul home.

I have decided to put my focus a little different. Because the question I think we are all left with is, "why?" It's probably a question that we will never get a full answer for, but here are some thoughts that have helped me to see things in a slightly larger perspective.

As Christians, we believe in an omnipotent God who has everything under control, and in a loving God who wish us the best. It is these two characters of God that has helped me the most in recent times. It may sound strange so let me elaborate a little bit.

We read before from Psalm 139:

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together  in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

This means that God created Hannah while she was still a fetus. He knew her heart defect and allowed her to be born with this. Although I do not understand why, it has kept me up to know that God had a plan for Hannah and that nothing that has happened over the last 9 weeks, has been random. Especially Hannah's last day showed it maybe the best. You can not plan to have most of your  family gathered around you when you will die, but that’s what Hannah had, and that showed me God's timing in a unique way.

At the same time Hannah in her short life has affected more people than many people have done in a long life. If I could influence just half as many in the rest of my life, I'd die a happy man.

Yet perhaps you ask, "How can a loving God allow all this, could it not be done differently?

Yes, perhaps, but here it is important to understand that God's love does not consist in that we always have it good and never have  problems. We live in a fallen world where death and transience is a natural part of life and as Christians we cannot expect that we won’t have our share of the pain. No, God love is that He has given us eternal life!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Our life here on earth can be short or long, but at some point we all go the same way. The question is whether it is to eternal damnation or eternal life. We know that Hannah with her Creator and has eternal life. We know that one day we will be together with her ​​again, if we believe in God's Son Jesus Christ. I know without a doubt that Hannah's greatest wish would be to see as many of you again on the other side and together praise an almighty and loving God.