In Memory of Jason & Lindsay...: The funeral service, a Celebration of Life...

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend Jason and Lindsay's funeral service in Ohio. I desperately wanted to go, but couldn't find anyone who was willing to drive 7 hours to go to their funeral with me... and I wasn't comfortable driving there on my own. But the local newspaper in Coshocton, Ohio had a very good review of the service:

Celebrating Godly Lives...

Family, friends gather for service of slain camp counselors.

By ANDREW HIRSCH
Staff Writer

Chris Cutshall presides over the memorial service for Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, her fiancé, at First Church of the Nazarene in Coshocton. Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen were found dead in their sleeping bags on a remote beach in Northern California last month.

(Photo credit: MATTHEW LEASURE/Tribune)

COSHOCTON -- A modern memorial service tries to be as much a celebration of life as it is part of the grieving process for the departed.

In the case of Saturday evening service for the late Lindsay Cutshall, 22 and Jason Allen, 26, laughter and smiles had a prominent place alongside the tears.

The young engaged couple, whose wedding was scheduled for Sept. 11, were both found dead just over two weeks ago on an isolated beach in northern California. Detectives say they had been shot as they slept in their sleeping bags, but as yet have no suspect or motive for the double murder.

The service was held at the Coshocton Church of the Nazarene, which granted its large sanctuary for the purposes of the service, attended as it was by several hundred people.

Speakers at the service wanted to emphasize many things, but two in particular -- that the two young people made faith the centerpiece in their lives, and that the rest of us should follow their example and do the same.

Fellow counselors from the Rock-N-Water Christian adventure camp in California recounted the selfless nature of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall.

Aaron Daly said that, despite the grueling physical nature of the work counselors had to perform all day, every day, Lindsay did even more. Daly said there was one particularly disturbed girl who came from a grim family situation. Lindsay, he said, would stay up with the girl often past midnight attempting to comfort the crying girl, and as a result Lindsay could get little sleep herself.

And yet, Daly said, Lindsay had little doubt as to what her duty was.

"She knew it was important, and what's important is not sleep," Daly said. "This earth is but a vapor."

He also remembered Jason Allen as one who loved God, Lindsay and nature "with a passion."

Curt Phillips, a member of the worship team at Fresno Bible Church, said no one should be afraid to sing for the glorification of Jesus.

"Jason and Lindsay are singing better than we could ever sing here," he said.

Alyn Goossen, a friend of the family's from Immanuel Baptist Church in Holland, Michigan, said he actually looked up to Jason Allen even though he was younger.

"I've admired him from the day I first met him," he said. "He understood that ministry is not just a vocation but a life."

It was Chris Cutshall who said the most in remembrance of his daughter and would-be son-in-law.

He spent far less time focusing on his grief or anger at the early passing of the young couple, than he did in thanking God that the two lived a life of selflessness and piety.

"We thank You for loving our kids and taking them home," Cutshall said. "God uses evil for good, and good will prevail."

He thanked Jason's parents, Bob and Delores Allen, for bringing up their son as they did, calling them "Godly people."

He noted that Jason expressed a desire to be a Christian missionary at age 5 and Lindsay at 10. They were to meet as students at Appalachian Bible College in West Virginia.

Cutshall said Jason had been resigned to a single life. After all, what woman would be interested in a man living the Spartan life of a missionary in poor places?

He said Jason knew very soon that Lindsay was the woman for him.

"A beautiful young woman who could live in a tent!" Cutshall said of his daughter.

After only six weeks Jason asked her father for her hand in marriage. It was too early to give an answer either way, Cutshall said, but it soon became apparent to him that God had meant this young man for his daughter.

"He didn't need a lot to be happy, and he found a girl who didn't need a lot to be happy," Cutshall said.

He shared some of the writings of the young departed missionaries. Lindsey wrote that she needed to live a less materialistic life and devote more of her life to fulfilling the will of God.

"Live for things in heaven and not on earth," Lindsay wrote.

When the two were on the beach which would be their final living destination on earth, they wrote of those things for which they were thankful.

"I look around and see (God's) Creation all around me," Lindsey wrote.

Jason, too, believed himself to be blessed.

"God gives me the privilege in life and he has given me a wonderful woman to enjoy it with," he wrote.

Much could be said for the way in which Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall contributed in their short time on earth, for which Cutshall wanted to express his gratitude.

"Thank you for the testimony of these two lives," he said.