Jason

I've known Jason practically all of my life since we have been in the Wood River congregation since we were children. Growing up we never really did much together. He was into sports and I was into Star Wars so we never really clicked. He was a very brave kid - when I say "brave" perhaps it would be more appropriate to say "reckless". He was the kind of kid that always seemed to have a broken bone or crutches.

Thinking back I can only remember one time that he came over to my house when we were kids. (Of course there may have been other times, my memory is selective at times.) When we lived in Alton we didn't have a nice flat backyard, instead it was a steep hill. At the bottom of the hill was what we used to call "the pit". How can I describe it? Sort of like a sinkhole. So "the pit" was on one side and next to it there was a row of trees for the wooded area behind our house. I remember Jason came over one day and took my bike down the back hill - he had so much speed that he went crashing into the trees - he was lucky he didn't go over the edge into "the pit". Brave? Reckless? A little of both, no doubt.

Many years later there was a time in our life that Jason and his wife Teri really gave Rebekah and I a boost. It was during a time we were kind of down in spirit. One day we had just got done visiting an old friend that wasn't doing too well and we were sad and sort of moping around the house. Jason called us up out of the blue and asked if we wanted to come over to their house for a Watchtower study and also if we wanted to go with them to Sears as Jason had gotten a gift-certificate that he wanted to use to buy some tools. Now as I write this I know that this doesn't sound like a very fun way to spend an evening - but Rebekah and I really enjoyed ourselves and it made a bad day so much nicer. We appreciate that they took an interest in us.

It was around this time that Jason gave me some practical help. I had lost my job at Dial and was coming down on my last month of unemployment when Jason offered me a position at the company he worked for as a Lead Paint Remover technician. When winter rolled around and work was getting slow Jason got me a position working in the office. I'm still there today. It is such a great job and provides for my needs. I consider this job a blessing from Jehovah and I'm thankful to Jason that he helped me get it.

Rebekah and I have also gone on a couple of trips with Jason and Teri. They invited us to go canoeing with them a couple of times which was a really good time. On one trip Jason still proved to be just as brave/reckless as an adult as he was a child. There was this cliff that some people were base jumping off of so we climbed to the top. He didn't hesitate to run and jump off the cliff into the water. I on the other hand was paralysed with fear and questioned what in the world made me climb to the top of this cliff. I wanted to climb down but it was too dangerous - more so than jumping. .... and so I jumped and scared myself to death! Despite that it was a really fun time. Jason and his wife Teri are such enjoyable people to hang around with.

Another time I will never forget happened a little over a year ago. Rebekah and I decided that we would send "Thank-You" cards to every member of the congregation. It was to be just a little note to say, "Hey we appreciate you." This was toward the beginning when we were struggling to figure out how to draw closer to the congregation but didn't know how to do it. So we just mailed out those cards and our Heavenly Father blessed us because they opened the way for developing and renewing tender relationships with several in the Hall. I still remember Jason and how appreciative he was about his card. He never strikes me as a very emotional person, sometimes he seems rather hard, but he had tears in his eyes when he told us how he enjoyed receiving his card and how he said it was very "loving". In turn that made Rebekah and I feel very, very good.

I really miss good friends like Jason.

--

"And if you won’t apologize
If you can’t look me in the eye
I forgive you ..."
- Juliana Hatfield, Noblesse Oblige