God, This Is Jason

By Ken Haas

Jason is born into tragedy. After his mother dies during childbirth, he is unfortunately sent home to live with his abusive, alcoholic father. As Jason matures into a very wise five-year-old boy, he decides to run away from home with just one toy and a dream to seek a better life.

After he is spotted by a police officer, Jason enters the foster care system where he bounces from orphanages to foster homes and eventually chooses to live on the streets at age fifteen. After he finally lands a good job, Jason is mentored by several helpful friends. But when he begins drinking heavily, Jason begins a downward spiral that eventually leads him into a life of crime and prison. When he befriends a guard and gives his heart to the Lord, Jason sets down a path that transports him to a new beginning transformed by faith, courage, and love.

God, This Is Jason shares the inspirational tale of one mans journey from a tragic childhood into a tumultuous adulthood where he must overcome obstacles and misfortune to find faith and a fulfulling future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532052675

Ken Haas

Ken Haas is an entrepreneur who has founded nine companies that include his most recent, a successful real estate renovation business. He and his wife, Liz, reside with their chocolate Labrador retriever, Rusty, in Fairfield, Ohio. This is his eleventh novel.

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GOD, THIS IS JASON

KEN HAAS

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GOD, THIS IS JASON

Copyright © 2016 Ken Haas.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-5268-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-5267-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018907246

iUniverse rev. date: 08/09/2018

Contents

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Epilogue

1

O NE DAY, A BABY boy was born in the city hospital. His mother died in childbirth, and the two of them never saw each other. This was a sad occasion for both baby and mother.

The baby, however, was in perfect health, with all his fingers and toes right where they were supposed to be. His father wasn’t around when he was born. The hospital personnel felt sorry for the baby, so they gave him some extra love and care. The baby very much responded to the attention he was getting with affection of his own.

Several days went by, and the baby boy became the most popular infant in the hospital. Some of the doctors and nurses would come to work early and others would stay late just to be with and hold the little baby boy. One of the nurses said the boy looked like his name should be Jason, and that seemed to stick. Everybody then started to call him Jason.

Two weeks went by, and Jason was still in the maternity ward. The hospital directors wanted him out and inquired to know why he was still there. A lot of hospital staff fell in love with Jason and wanted to keep him. The head doctor of the maternity ward went to bat for Jason and told the directors he was checking on some possible problems. This seemed to satisfy the directors for now, but they wanted him out ASAP.

Jason’s father finally showed up, but he was very drunk, and the hospital wouldn’t let the baby go with him. They told him to come back when he was sober. The next day, Jason’s father showed up, and they could smell the alcohol on him. But he was not drunk like he’d been the day before, so they had to give him Jason because they had no choice. It was a sad time for the hospital personnel losing Jason to his father. Even though they knew they couldn’t keep the baby, they wanted to.

Jason’s father took him home to a very dirty apartment cluttered with a lot of empty beer and wine bottles, as well as fast-food trash. His father shoved a bunch of trash onto the floor and set Jason on the kitchen table. He then went to the fridge and opened a beer, sat in the living room, turned on the TV, and started drinking.

It wasn’t long until his girlfriend showed up with a bottle of hard liquor, and the two of them sat there drinking very heavily and paying no attention to the baby. The girl didn’t even know that Jason was on the kitchen table. Jason had been there for a couple of hours with no one paying any attention to him. He was hungry, so he started crying.

As drunk as she was, the woman got up and went to see why she was hearing a baby cry. She found Jason lying on the kitchen table, picked him up, and carried him in to his father.

Where did this baby come from?

I got a woman pregnant, and she died when the baby was born. So now I have the boy, he said. I don’t know anything about babies and don’t know what to do with him. Do you want the boy?

No, but I’ll help you take care of the baby, she replied. The baby is hungry and wants something to eat. I’ll go out to get the baby some food. She then left.

2

J ASON’S FATHER WAS NOT a good parent at all. He didn’t treat the baby right. He left Jason by himself most of the time in front of the TV. That was Jason’s babysitter. He didn’t provide good food for him. Jason’s clothes were ones that his father had found in the trash and were seldom clean. His father was very abusive, and when he was drunk, which was most of the time, he would oftentimes beat Jason because that made him feel like a big man.

Jason was now about five years old with very few friends. And the few he did have, Jason saw that they had much better lives than his, so Jason decided he was going to leave and never come back. He took the only toy that he had, which he’d found in the trash can one day while looking for food, and left. Jason didn’t know where he was going, but he figured there must be something better than this.

It was evening time and getting dark, and Jason was walking down the sidewalk by himself in a bad neighborhood with the only toy he’d ever had when a police car passed him by.

The policeman quickly stopped, backed up to where Jason was, stopped again, and got out of the car. What’s your name? What are you doing there?

My name is Jason. I’m running away from home.

The officer then tried to get Jason’s last name and where he lived, but Jason wasn’t telling. So Jason was taken to the police station, where other officers tried to get information from him, but Jason wouldn’t tell them anything. So he was turned over to Children’s Services.

Nothing was ever found out about Jason, and for several years, he went from orphanage to orphanage and foster home to foster home. Jason was a very smart kid, but because of his background, he was very hard to get along with. He was always in trouble so much that no one was found to take Jason and raise him up correctly and give him the love he needed.

When Jason was about fifteen, he decided there must be something better than this, so he ran away and started living on the street. Life was difficult living on the street at first, but he soon adjusted. He was able to fall in with the street people and found a reasonably safe place to sleep and find food. Jason was somewhat content for several years, but when he started looking around, he decided once again there must be something better than this.

Why couldn’t I have more than what I have now, which is nothing? he thought. He saw so many people with nice cars to drive, elegant houses to live in, and sumptuous restaurants to go to and dine in.

Jason then decided he would get a real job. He put in a lot of applications, but no one would even give him a chance. Jason was somewhat discouraged and down in the dumps one day when an old man who also lived on the street sat down next to him. What’s wrong? the man asked.

Jason then poured out his troubles and sorrows to the man. The man listened very quietly until Jason was through talking.

The man then asked, Do you really want to get a better life than what you have now?

Jason replied, There must be something better than this.

The old man was very old and wise. "You look like you are homeless with no address or references. So make it up. Go find a place where you would like to live, and put that address on the application as your residence.

Next, don’t go looking for a job looking like you are homeless. If you want to be a success, look, act, and talk successfully. Also make up a Social Security number and list some people who are professionals as references. Wear clean clothes, and put on aftershave lotion after you have shaved. And don’t forget to cut your hair. Seldom does a person looking for an employee check out any of this information. And talk intelligently. Don’t speak like a dumb kid who doesn’t know anything and doesn’t care. Talk like someone who wants to get somewhere in life.

That night, Jason went to sleep thinking about what the old man had told him, and when he woke up the next morning, he was very enthused. Jason worked toward this goal, doing what the old man had told him.

It took a couple of days for him to get ready, but Jason was confident and looked good. He also had all the information the old man had suggested he have. Jason first went to a manufacturing plant called Brown Manufacturing. He had passed by there many times and seen some of the employees on break or at lunch, and they seemed very happy. He had also noticed boxes of parts that the plant had made, and they seemed interesting to Jason.

Jason walked in the front door and walked up to what must have been a receptionist. Good morning. My name is Jason, and I would like to put in an application for employment.

The lady said, "Wait a moment. Charlie is looking for someone to fill a position. I’ll call