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Making A Difference - Jefferson still
'one of the family' with McCurrys
Late at night when April and Mark McCurry are in bed, they're sometimes startled when the front door opens. Then the next thing they hear is the refrigerator door open, and they go back to sleep without worry.
Michael Jefferson has arrived for his usual food raid. Though he no longer lives at the Decatur campus of the Children's Homes, where the McCurrys were his houseparents, he knows he's still accepted as a member of their family.
Mark and April are two of Michael's closest confidantes. He eats meals, reads the Bible, and prays with them often, and he knows he can rely on them for whatever other spiritual and emotional support he needs. April says that she, Mark, and their two young children Hannah and Stone always include him in their holiday plans.
"I can talk to Mark and April more easily than I can talk to anybody else," says Michael, a college graduate.
"The McCurrys have always taught me to think about others' needs instead of worrying about myself," Michael acknowledges. His visits in the boys cottage at the Decatur campus help the guys to see what they have to look forward to when they graduate from high school, according to Mark.
"Michael plays baseball and basketball with the boys, and the older ones can't wait to joke and wrestle with him," Mark says. "Both Hannah and Stone think he hung the moon."
There was a time when Michael saw his relationship with God in the same comical light with which he viewed the rest of life. Early one Monday morning, however, the other boys in Mark and April's house on campus were busy with chores. Michael was in his bedroom wrestling with the idea of returning to college. He said God had convicted him about the partying lifestyle he had led at college for
over a year.
April says she immediately could see that something was bothering the energetically social 20-year-old when he approached her in the den.
"Michael asked me to sit down, and he started rambling on about not feeling good about going back to the college where he attended," she recalls. She and Mark had been his houseparents at the Children's Homes for about four years.
"I was amazed that Michael didn't want to return to that particular college, knowing how much it means to him," April says. A few moments after he shared with her about his struggle with his wild lifestyle at college, she led him to confess his sin to God, ask for forgiveness, and invite Jesus Christ to be his Savior and Lord.
"Before becoming a Christian, I looked out more for myself and I couldn't care less about who I hurt," Michael reports. "Now, I can't lie without feeling convicted about it. I catch myself praying about the simplest of things." Michael's close relationship with April gave him assurance that he could talk to her about his struggles. "I joke with Mark a lot, but April is more serious about things. God has been teaching me about how fortunate I am to have the Children's Homes."
Mark and April encourage Michael to actively participate on mission trips with other members of Southside Baptist Church in Decatur. Church involvement has been one of the few consistencies in Michael's life, according to Mark. "People at Southside are always asking how he's doing, and they've always been wanting to help him."
Jefferson acknowledged, "A lot of my friends are strong Christians. Until I became a Christian, I would get quiet when they started talking about spiritual things, but now I want to be involved." |
