I Heard the Angels Sing: One Man's Journey Back to God

By Thomas Haslett

Have you ever felt that God was not there for you? Have you ever questioned, “Why, God, why?” One man did constantly. After an experience he cannot explain, he begins to reflect on his life, and he finds answers to those questions.

An inspirational reveal of how one man begins his journey back to God. He revisits occurrences from his life, exploring his own relationship with God. In sharing his experiences, he encourages others to discover and embrace their own relationship with God. Each chapter explores his personal memories from childhood into his adult life as he struggles with good and bad things in his life. Some experiences are small, some major and some occurrences affect him forever. He encounters great highs and deep lows in his life. And some incidents come full circle. He finally comes to the conclusion that God was always there for him.

It all began when he heard the Angels sing…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Sep 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886935332

Thomas Haslett

Thomas Haslett graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1982. He is now retired after 37 years in the aerospace industry. For over 26 years, Tom has also been known as “Polka Tom” from his popular radio and internet shows featuring polka music. Currently, he lives in California and enjoys gardening, traveling, and baseball.     

Book preview

About the Author

Thomas Haslett graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1982. He is now retired after 37 years in the aerospace industry. For over 26 years, Tom has also been known as Polka Tom from his popular radio and internet shows featuring polka music. Currently, he lives in California and enjoys gardening, traveling, and baseball.

Dedication

For Susie,

Without your Christian inspiration this book would not have come into existence.

Copyright Information ©

Thomas Haslett 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Haslett, Thomas

I Heard the Angels Sing

ISBN 9798886935301 (Paperback)

ISBN 9798886935318 (Hardback)

ISBN 9798886935332 (ePub e-book)

ISBN 9798886935325 (Audiobook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023906363

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Acknowledgment

Thank you Noel Baker for your thoughtful guidance and assistance through my first edit.

Thanks to all of my family and friends, the journey continues.

Prologue

As I start this writing, I have returned to the ‘Scene of the Crime’: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Two months ago, I heard the Angels sing. This revelation moved me into thinking about God and what influences God has blessed me with. I came to realize I was on a journey back to the Lord and I needed to tell my story.

I never intended for this book to be my autobiography. It is my intent to show you how God influenced just one man’s life: Me.

I tried to limit my writing to those experiences in my life where I am sure God had influence. I tried to choose those with the most heart and meaning to me.

I hope by telling you of my experiences and adventures, you will find your own way to God and maybe you, too, will hear the Angels sing.

Tom Haslett, May 2010

Chapter 1

First Recollections of God

(In the Beginning…)

I can’t remember the first time God entered my consciousness. I doubt anyone can. Members of my mother’s side of the family were devout Catholics. My father was raised as a Methodist, but converted to Catholicism to marry my mother. What a commitment he made. I don’t think I could go through the process, even for love. But family love is what I remember from the earliest days. My mom and dad always loved their three children with equal warmth.

I remember my family going to church once in a while. I didn’t much like it or didn’t really understand what was going on or what it was all about.

By the time I was old enough to figure it out, we weren’t going to church any more. In later years, my dad would tell the story of how my mom’s family would ‘check up on them’ when they first married. Someone was always making sure they went to mass. They would see either my mother’s aunt, Josephine, or her husband, Jim, at mass, but never together. My dad got tired of this behavior and sometime later didn’t force church or Catholicism on us. In fact, neither I nor my siblings were confirmed in the church. We had been baptized, that seemed good enough.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Special blessings to give… That was the way I said my prayers at night before going to sleep. My mom always saw that I said these things when she tucked me in for the night. I knew that the prayers were meant to be my personal communication sent to God. The special blessings were for relatives who were sick and we felt needed extra significance in telling the Lord to help them. My mom had always told me that God listened to prayers and you showed respect to God by asking for His help.

At this time, I believed that God, Christianity, and religion were one and the same, there was no difference. One day I would learn that there’s a big difference in how you might feel about God, Christianity, and religion, individually and combined.

As a young child, I did not grasp these concepts much. I was too busy playing with LEGO® blocks, G. I. Joe® action figures, and HOT WHEELS® cars. Many times I wanted the same toys my brother had. If I asked Santa Claus for the same toys, I sometimes got them, but pieces or characters were missing. What I did not know was that my mom and dad were barely scraping by and the only way they could do their best was to pick up what I wanted from the Salvation Army® and Goodwill® stores. In fact, since I wanted the same toys as my brother, these stores were probably the only places my parents could find them. You see, my brother is 5 years older than me and most of the toys were probably hard to find if he had gotten them when they were popular.

It did bother me that Santa Claus didn’t always bring me exactly what I wanted. Hadn’t he read my list? Didn’t the mail get to the North Pole? Wasn’t I a good boy this year? Were Mom and Dad telling the truth? Wasn’t God listening to my prayers? Wait a minute…what does God have to do with Christmas?

(Stop laughing for a minute.)

The whole concept of Santa Claus versus the birth of Jesus on December 25th was a bit confusing to me. I can understand celebrating the birth of Jesus by giving presents, but what about the imaginary man and his reindeer? When you grow up, you are expected to realize the whole Santa thing isn’t real, but then, why would you believe the whole Jesus thing is real?

I think it is wrong to teach children about Santa Claus. It’s bad enough to just lie to your children, but what keeps them from thinking you lie about other concepts, ideas, and family stories?

To this day, the ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ cartoon is still my favorite holiday classic. The speech Linus gives about the birth of Jesus is so well embedded in my mind. I can almost quote it word for word. And the ‘Charlie Brown’ Christmas tree…is this not a metaphor to tell you to be like Jesus…help your fellow man? So too is Santa Claus. Bring Peace, Joy, and Love to your fellow man.

Being the youngest in the family, I was always the one who got up first to see what Santa brought. Sometimes I would have the clock set at 5am to get everyone up, not realizing my mom, dad, sister and brother just finished putting the presents under the tree at 2am.

One Christmas I remember waking up and hearing a noise down stairs. I had checked the other bedrooms and I knew no one in my family was down there. I sneaked to the top of the stairwell and I swear I saw a light below and I could ‘hear’ Santa putting our gifts out. I was so afraid he would catch me and I stayed at the top of the stairs, barely breathing, until there was no more noise. I am convinced Santa visited me that night, just as I am that he did again years later on Christmas Eve on a beach in Mexico…

Chapter 2

The Hanging Christ

(A Constant Reminder of Jesus)

I should talk about a certain item in my possession while discussing my first recollections of God. The item is a standing crucifix about 10 inches tall. The cross is made from wood, dark brown in color. It fits with a wooden peg into a base made of the same wood so it can stand freely. The body of Jesus is most likely molded plastic and it was attached to the cross by 3 small pins, hammered into the wood.

(Yes, I did say was attached.)

First off, the strange thing is that I cannot remember the ‘who, where, what, why, or how’ this standing crucifix came into my possession. For as long as I can remember, the left hand of Jesus has been broken at the wrist and the pin holding his feet to the cross has been missing. That leaves only the right hand attaching Jesus to the crucifix.

When the standing crucifix is upright, the body of Jesus hangs off the cross at about 45 degrees. I’ve always joked, He’s trying to get off that cross!

Many times I used a needle or a simple pin to put Jesus securely back on the cross. I’ve tried tucking the left hand under the pin to help hold him back on the cross. I always thought as a ‘good Catholic’ it was wrong to show Jesus hanging at 45 degrees, he needs to be ‘on’ that cross.

(Funny, I have never thought to glue the body back into position.)

I kept the standing crucifix on my dresser for years; the vibration of opening drawers to get my clothes would lead to the pin falling out from the feet of Jesus, and He would be hanging again at 45 degrees. As many times as I pinned Him back, He would always work His way loose again.

Ok Jesus, I guess you want to be hanging at 45 degrees, I would say aloud to myself.

I gave up trying to put Jesus back on the cross many years ago, and to this day, the body of Jesus hangs halfway off that cross.

Chapter 3

Prayer

(The Lord is Listening)

The prayers which my mother taught me to say went like this:

"Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul he’ll take.

Please give special blessing to Grandma, Pap-Pap, Aunt Mary, and Uncle Frank…"

The prayer ends with the sign of the cross and the words, In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Amen.

Grandma and Pap-Pap got the special blessing because they were getting old, Aunt Mary was sickly all her life, and Uncle Frank had been paralyzed on his left side from a stroke. Other relatives or friends were added to the special blessings when they were ill or having troubles. I threw in my siblings when they had colds or the flu and when they went to the hospital to have their tonsils removed.

I always believed the Lord was listening. My grandparents and Aunt Mary led long lives. Uncle Frank kept us continually laughing with jokes and stories of humor; he rarely showed sadness in his paralysis. My siblings always recovered well their illness or injuries.

Chapter 4

Baseball and Baptists

(Does God Judge?)

I became an avid baseball fan in 1972. The Pittsburgh Pirates had won the World Series in the previous year. While my father was watching those final 1971 games, I jumped in with full interest and started to enjoy ‘The Game’. I also liked playing baseball, but I wasn’t a very good athlete. But, I still LOVED the game.

By late 1972, I was collecting baseball cards, knew all the statistics on the players on the Pirates team, and had the true joy of going to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh where I witnessed powerful homeruns from Willie Stargell, hit into the upper decks and line-shot throws from Roberto Clemente in the outfield.

On New Year’s Eve in 1972, Roberto Clemente was killed in an airplane crash in Managua, Nicaragua, while taking relief supplies to earthquake victims. I heard the news on the radio early the next morning; I also heard my father downstairs talking with my brother on how they would break the news to me. It was too late; I was already sobbing and weeping. My thoughts were, Why, God, why? How can you take one of my heroes when I just started to learn who my hero was?

Baseball of course went on and for many years I cheered the Pittsburgh Pirates through victories and defeat. All this time, I was wondering what God does for the fan who prays? You pray for a homerun, the slugger strikes out! Was the opposing team and fans praying for the strikeout? Maybe God doesn’t answer every prayer. Does He have rules on which items He will answer from prayer? I am sure Chicago Cubs