A Kansas teen who challenged herself to read the Bible in a year met her goal the day before she died in a car crash on August 10, 2018. In an interview with Fox 4 Kansas City News, Hannah Foy’s mom, Jennifer,, said:
She turned to me and she said, “Guess what, mom?” …She had this excitement in her eye, and I said, “What?” and she said, “Mom, I finished the Bible.” That was really exciting because she’d finished a week early, and in that moment I was just so proud of her, and then I told her when she got back we would celebrate.
Hannah was only 14 years old when she and two other teens died in a car accident while on a trip with the youth group from Faith Chapel Assembly of God in Overland Park, Kansas. A couple hours into the trip, the back left tire of the van blew out. The vehicle then went off the right side of the road, flipped and crashed into a tree. Thirteen people, two of whom were adults, were in the van when it crashed. Besides the three teens who died, 10 other people involved in the accident sustained minor to serious injuries.
“Best Year Ever”
Earlier that summer, Hannah had told her mom that the past year had been “the best year ever.” Jennifer believes the reason Hannah had had such a good year was partly because she had been faithfully reading the Bible, a book that changes people’s lives. Jon Clayton, the father of Hannah’s best friend, Chloe, said that Hannah was “a girl of radiance.” She was dedicated to following God and always “had a smile on her face.”
When Jennifer heard the news that Hannah had died and realized her daughter was gone forever, she cried out to God: “How could it be? How could it be that I saw her the day before and now she wasn’t there? And now I’ll never get to see her again.”
Jennifer says that God responded by calling her to encourage others to read the Bible like Hannah did. She obeyed, and at Hannah’s memorial, challenged people to follow her daughter’s example.
Quite a few have taken up the challenge, posting on social media with the hashtag #HannahsBestYearEverChallenge and messaging Foy to let her know they are following in Hannah’s footsteps.
Challenge accepted! Honored to join in to read the bible this next year! #hannahsbestyeareverchallenge https://t.co/rSqyuotBBA
— Doc (@fultondoc1) August 19, 2018
Foy says, “It gives me a lot of joy to know that through Hannah’s death something good is coming from it, and I think that she would love nothing more than to know that so many people are in God’s word every day.”
