MEET Aspen, Elizabeth, and JasoN

This is Aspen, Elizabeth, and Jason. (Great name, right?) 

I invited them into my hotel lobby and we chatted for a long time about their journey. 

Some jaw dropping, inspiring, and heartbreaking highlights.

Jason’s childhood could have been ripped from a movie. So much violence. Abuse. Abandonment. 

His parents handed him to the state when he was just 9. 

Here’s how he summarized his upbringing. “I was in a family, but without a family.” 

How does a child have any chance with that kind of foundation? It was a family on paper, not practice.

Jason spiraled and has spent more than half his life in rehab of every imaginable kind. But last summer he realized that no long-term healing would be possible without God. Jason tried everything, but Him. And He made all the difference.

Jason’s been sober since July, and he’s got dramatic dreams of finding solutions to help others break these vicious cycles. As we talked, he was filling a notebook with ideas and impressions.

His lovely wife Elizabeth also had a challenging childhood, but in different ways. Her parents tried to love her with things, instead of their hearts. 

She too developed dangerous habits, but she’s also sober and has no plans of ever going back.

Obviously I challenged both to stay the course and to not give in no matter what may come. 

Because the temptations never ease, we just learn to better manage them.

And Aspen? My heavens! What an angel. So respectful and kind. I asked her point blank, in front of her parents, if she felt loved. Her smile lit up the entire hotel lobby.

“Yes,” she said. “They tell me that every single day. All day long.”

I have so much respect for these parents doing everything they can to give their children a better life.

They’re currently in a shelter trying to find work, which is a requirement for housing assistance. 

It might not seem like much, but they’re off the streets, out of the cold, and they’re together.

Mostly, they’re hopeful!

I gave them cards to several restaurants, a VISA gift card one of you gave me at a show last week, and Aspen got to choose her own cards from my collection. 

After taking three from me, she beamed up at her dad and squealed, “$30 to McDonalds!

After goodbyes and hugs, my new friends said next time we meet up, they’ll be in a much different place. Literally and figuratively.

And I believe them, with all my heart.

This inspiring family represents everything I love about God, this kindness movement, and all of you who support it so generously.