OUR JOURNEY by Terry and Lucretia Burton
Lucretia and I have begun a journey without a clear view of our destination. We can look back to see the direction that we are going, but the future and our life to be is in God's hands. So we rest in this and find peace in taking each day trying to follow in the path shown us. We will reflect on our steps and stumblings in the recent past as a way to illuminate for us and you where we see ourselves being led -- by Him -- as HIS.
It has been five years now since the two of us became teachers in our church Wednesday night 2nd grade class. Our church has had an outreach into some of our poorer areas of town for years which involves driving vans to pick up kids, mainly on Wednesday nights. Lucretia and I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with these young kids, mostly Hispanic, who were blended in with the church kids, mostly white. So began our first step of this journey.
Years before we were married, Lucretia had spent 3 years with a missionary team in Guatemala. There she learned Spanish which she later was able to apply as a Social Worker. My only experience with the language was from high school classes and only practiced minimally since then. In our class, there were a few kids who were marginal in their English. Some of them were comforted by knowing that one of their teachers could speak well in their home language. This was to become a major factor as we became more involved with the parents and families of the kids we taught on Wednesday nights.
I recall Lucretia's brother-in-law Doug suggesting that we read the book Shack. We were both taken by this writing as an expression of God's grace and love. We heard about an Austin church which was hosting a weekend with the author and were able to actually listen to his explanation of the working of the Spirit in bringing that book to life. Later we were able to see the authors of the book, Same Kind of Different as Me, at the same church. Eagerly we passed on copies of both of these writings to those close to us.
We had to step back from our involvement in 2009-2010 to help care for my sister and mother who both died in 2010. In October of 2010 we were able to attend the OUTREACH convention in San Diego with others in our church. Listening to various speakers brought into focus for us where we were being led by His Spirit. We were influenced by reading a book called Under the Overpass about lives of homeless, street people. I felt especially impacted listening to the author of Mosaic in discussing church that reflects the love of Christ in the blending of cultures, races, economic diversity, ages, and spiritual maturity within the body of Christ. Both of these books and writings led us more toward an outward looking model of Christianity. We were being led toward a more active walk in this direction. Actually, we only maintained our role in picking up our three kids on Wednesdays until the Fall of 2011 when I began assisting in a 5th grade class. In January of 2012 I began co-teaching with another friend for this class. Lucretia and I felt a need for increased leadership and organization for this outreach ministry and volunteered to guide it. Our next step begins.
