Our last Saturday Story of September 2020!!! (But October will have stories too!!! <grin>
The deck was stacked against James Johnson. His birth mother was Lucille Alvarez - the local drug dealer and prostitute of Harris County. Even she wasn’t sure who the father was. Shortly after his birth - in a back bedroom on 3rd street - his mother was arrested (again) for dealing drugs to an undercover cop. The previous arrest called for immediate jail time - kind of a ‘three-strike’ rule. But, this time, the circumstances were different - Lucille had a child - all of three months old. James had a low birth weight, and living with his mother while she did ‘tricks’ wasn’t going to help his nutritional needs.
The Harris County assistant district attorney had prosecuted Lucille too many times in the past. Her criminal record was long - theft, prostitution, drugs, public intoxication, shoplifting, bad checks, fraud, slapping (and biting) a police officer, and more. Even with the baby, there would be no plea bargaining this time. She had become a ‘hardened criminal’ and she was going to jail. The assistant district attorney wanted twenty years in jail. Even the public defender knew she was going to jail, but tried to convince the judge that five years would be enough and with a chance for parole after three years. It was an ‘open-and-shut’ case and Lucille pled guilty. She didn’t even mention her baby James.
Immediately, James went to his first foster home. The Markhams were good people, but dealing with a three-month-old - who probably was a drug addict from birth - and cried incessantly - was not a good match. The Markhams tried, but after a year (with frequent interactions with the Child and Family Department of Harris County), they said “they couldn’t do it”.
Foster homes can vary. By the time he was 16 James had been in four foster homes. The longest was the Anson family - for ten years. They helped James fit in, and got his reading, writing, and math scores close to his grade level. They had two other sons and they played and got along well. But, Jason Anson, the dad, was transferred out-of-state for his job and they couldn’t take James along with the family move.
The worst was the Perez family - for four grueling years. Some people do foster care for the money, and that was the Perez family. He got hand-me-downs from the older boys, had a closet that had been made into a bedroom, there was little help with his academic skills. And, there was the abuse. Mitch Perez was an alcoholic and beat James frequently (and not his own sons) when he was drunk (which was frequent). James ran away twice (at the age of 12), but really didn’t have a place to run to. His overworked caseworker finally figured out about the abuse and moved James out.
The last family was the Nichols family. They were an older couple without children and wanted to make a difference in the life of a child, so took James on as a foster child. But, they weren’t really good parents as James ran around, smoked dope, and rarely went to school.
The county didn’t have many options. He wouldn’t be old enough to be out of the child and dependent care department until 18. They put him in the Giddings State School. He dropped out of this facility on his eighteenth birthday and joined the Army.
He had all the wrong background for the Army. Drug usage, lack of enough educational skills, no real family, rotten attitude, delinquency, and court issues.
But, the Army wasn’t the solution for James either. Yes, there was discipline and order in his life, but once basic training was over, drugs and drug dealing took over again. But, it was better than the Giddings Training School had been.
James was assigned to Fort Benning in Georgia to train as a paratrooper. Suddenly, things looked up for James - jumping out of airplanes with a parachute was going to be fun. It was work, but he did well in his ground school and on to his first plane jump. It was a ‘gas’.
But, he still was into drugs and dealing. One Saturday evening, MPs stopped at his barracks as he had just bought some marijuana and was going to sell it. They put him in the brig and worked him over. It was his first offense, so he went on probation. The Army knew that recreational drugs were common but frowned on dealing.
The jumping increased - day jumps, night jumps, jumps with heavy backs, jumps into forested areas, night jumps into dark football stadiums. He was torn - he liked the jumping, but drugs were pretty much part of his life too.
The Anson family had kept up with James over the years, even though he did a poor job of communicating back. They had moved to the Atlanta area and had heard that James was nearby in Fort Benning. They invited him to Thanksgiving dinner - and it was like the good times that James remembers - the eight years with the Anson family had been good. Mike Anson was two years older than James and was graduating from Georgia Tech University in the spring. Dan Anson was James’ age and they hit it off well.
James also got three days off at Christmas and he was allowed to go to the Anson family again. There was lots of food, football, and fellowship. There were even presents for James - some civilian clothes (civies) and some snacks he could take back to base with him.
Jason Anson had heard about the Man-to-Man program where a Christian man could visit inmates and share time and faith with them. While there wasn’t quite a man-to-man for soldiers program - Jason made a point of driving from the Smyrna Georgia suburb to Fort Benning every other week to meet with James.
Graduation from Airborne / Paratrooper School came, and Jason, Paula, Mike, and Dan came for the graduation ceremonies.
James looked distinguished in his dress uniform. They shared some time together. James was going to be transferred to Camp Roberts in Monterey California. As they were saying their goodbyes, Jason’s fill billfold was too tempting for James, and while they weren’t paying much attention, James picked Jason’s pocket.
As soon as he had a chance, James took out anything that was of value in the billfold and kept the money and one credit card and destroyed the billfold and the rest of the items. He was going to be gone to California, and the money (about $200) would do him more than it would for Jason Anson (so, he thought).
Going back to Smyrna, the Anson family stopped for a break and Jason found he was missing his billfold. He knew he had it with him in the morning as he paid for coffee for their trip at Ziggi’s coffee as they left town.
He had his billfold as they had to show his ID to get into Fort Bennings.
Turning to Paula, he said quietly “I think James took it. I can get a duplicate driver’s license, credit cards, and other things. My guess is that when James bumped him to say ‘goodbye’, he picked my pocket. It’s only money - and we can have that. I’m even going to leave the credit card active for a week or two.”
*****
James took off the next day for Camp Roberts. He kept the money and the credit card. He hoped that Jason Anson wouldn’t miss it. He flew Delta from Atlanta to San Francisco and then a bus to Monterey. He was surprised at the people who say “Thank you for your service” and similar things as he waited for the plane and for the bus. He used the credit card for a snack at Bojangles in the Atlanta airport - and it worked!! That was good. At San Francisco airport (SFO), he used it for some other things - including a nice San Francisco t-shirt. It was fun spending somebody else’s money.
*****
In the middle of January, James got a letter from the Ansons. Jason wrote about Mike’s graduation and his job that he had already accepted with a civil engineering company. Mike wanted to get some experience before he went back to graduate school. Dan was pursuing a computer science major, Paula was still teaching, and things were fine in Georgia. Jason did not say anything about the billfold, the money, or the credit card, but closed the letter with a prayer for his safety, welfare, and asking God’s grace, mercy and peace be upon him.
It did affect James a little. That nagging spot in his gut said he had screwed up - but he comforted it was a beer from the PX.
At Camp Roberts, James got tested and found that he had an aptitude for technical support. He was put into an online computer trouble-shooting class, and soon he was a real whiz on repairing technology. He approached his senior officer and asked if he could try to build his own computer with parts in the technology lab. Soon he was building computers, then building networks. His drug usage had diminished some as he found activities that he loved.
The Anson family, basically Jason Anson, kept in touch. In February, James received a box of birthday goodies. Jason and Paula had packed some Georgian goodies - peach jam, peace candy, two collectible Coca-Cola bottles, and some pictures from the graduation ceremony.
James did well in his work. But, he was still getting high most weekends.
And, he was lonely. One Saturday night he was thinking about a sexual encounter. He knew where he could get a prostitute and discreetly went to find a woman. But, the experience overwhelmed him. The prostitute was old and reminded him of somebody. As he was getting his sexual pleasures, he found out her name was Lucille. His brain went into overdrive. He had never known his mother other than a picture or two. Sure, this lady was old, and she did her ‘tricks’ fairly cheaply and did have health notices that she was clean. But James could see the needle marks in her arm, he could see the hollowness of her eyes, the missing teeth. It scared James so much, that he couldn’t finish the sexual act, and threw money into her lap and ran from the room.
He ran and ran. He passed a liquor store and bought a 750 ml bottle of Jack Daniels. He chugged most of the bottle. He found a park bench and rested, then ran for another hour. About midnight he returned to his base apartment. But sleep didn’t come. He could see the prostitute Lucille in his brain. Could it be his mother? His mother was 16 when he was born. He was now 24. Was this Lucille about 40? Maybe - but maybe not. About three in the morning as he struggled with his life, he ‘heard’ a voice. Was it God? He didn’t know God, he knew nothing about God, other than what he learned when he lived with the Anson family. At first, he was scared - God must have been there to kill him for his evil life. But, he didn’t sense that. After about half-an-hour, there was a warmth that came over him and he felt peace, a peace that he had never known. Shortly after that, he fell asleep. About eight in the morning, something woke him. He didn’t quite know what was going on. He showered and put on a clean uniform and his steps somehow led him to a church. There was a somehow familiar person who greeted him on the sidewalk and directed him inside.
James was lost in the service. People around him slid away from him. But, the real part was during the message. Somehow the speaker knew him and spoke directly to him - and not to anyone else in the church. As soon as he could he ran out of the church and headed to the overpass over I-305. He waited until he saw a flurry of cars coming - and he was going to jump - the paratrooper was going to make his last jump. As he started to jump over the railing, a car pulled up and the man who greeted him outside the door yelled STOP at him. The man jumped out of his car and grabbed James. He was saying things like “God loves you”. It was the man who had greeted him at church!! James couldn’t quite explain it, but there was a sudden break in the clouds and the brightness of the sunshine was right at the stop where he and the man were. Could it be God? What was going on?
A squad car pulled up about five minutes later. James went to the police station in the squad car, but the other man drove himself there as well. There was a charge of attempted suicide and the bail was to be $1,000. The man steps up and says “I will pay for his bond” and he did
The man took James to his house and his wife was there and gave him lunch. James cried through part of the lunch. At some point, James mentioned his friends, the Ansons. The man jumped.
“What name did you say?” asked the man.
James looked incredulously at the name “What did I say?”
The man said “I thought you said “Anson”.
James looked shocked - “Yes, I guess I did”.
The man continued “I am a cousin to Jason Anson. His mother and my father were sister and brother. I’m Ben Rottham.”
James looked at Ben - was this God person in charge of this meeting? Was God calling on him? James spilled his guts and talked about the Ansons and how he had stolen money and the credit card from Jason’s billfold. He talked about his running from God.
Ben stopped James at a point and said “God wants you James. You’ve been running too long”.
James and Ben prayed and Ben led James in a prayer. Again, that warmness came over him.
When they finished, Ben said “James, I’m going to call my cousin. Do you want to talk to him?”
Ben called Jason Anson. They talked for a few minutes, and then Ben said “I have a friend of yours with me. His name is James. And I don’t even know his last name.”
The line went dead for about ten seconds. Ben thought maybe they had gotten cut off.
Then Jason said, calmly “Last night about nine, I was asleep, but I couldn’t sleep. Somehow God had put James on my heart. So, I got into my prayer chair and prayed and interceded for James. I had no idea why God wanted me to pray for James, but I did - for about six hours.”
Ben put James on the phone. James quickly blurted about taking the money and credit card from Jason. Jason said, “I know”. James kept going about all he had done wrong.
Jason interrupted James and said “James, God answered my prayers. He put Ben around you to keep you from jumping and from ending your life.”
They talked longer, but James knew that something major had changed inside himself.
From that time forward, James stopped his drug usage, he never went to a prostitute again (but he did check, it wasn’t his Mom). He finished his enlistment program and moved to Atlanta where Jason saw that he was hired by a technology support company.
*****
Yes, that is my Saturday story. A little dramatic, and definitely Pollyanna approved!! I’m not preaching today - but call it what you will - God, the Force, The Divine Power, He, She, The Almighty - but I believe there is such a force in the world. Yes, this story is fiction, but it could be real. At someplace there is a “heaven” and in this story, the Hound of Heaven found James.
Thank you all for reading this.
LOVE WINS!!!
HUGS!!!
Karen
