PODCAST | Lunch with Ledyard
 

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At the right moment, at the right time, God moves. Understanding His timing can be difficult but He has a plan for everyone's life. God has moved in Burgess' life since he was little leading him now to the point of graduating in December from East Texas Baptist University.
 
At the age of three, he lost his mother to ovarian cancer. Nine years later, at 12-years old, his father passed away due to complications with diabetes. God had a plan.
 
Throughout the nine years that Burgess was with his father, he had a relationship with his Aunt Sara and Uncle Steve Easterling. They were constantly in his life helping out and being there for support. It was just who Aunt Sara and Uncle Steve were. God had a plan.
 
Sara and Steve were married on December 4, 1999, and found out later that they could not have children. So, in return, they opened up their home to fostering.
 
Steve says, "Honestly, I believe it was a divine calling. We decided early in our marriage that we wanted to be foster parents. We were serving our church as youth ministers. So, we signed up for the training classes and they approved us to foster. Initially we started working with teenage boys from a group home in Baton Rouge. A few years in we realized having biological children wasn't going to be an option for us. We had so much to offer children who were in need, and they have blessed us way more than we have deserved."


God's plan always works for the good. Sara and Steve used a situation that could have been for the worse and turned it into a blessing for many children. Little did they know that true family would one day become a part of their family.
 
Burgess, at 12 years old, now had no parents in his life and not many options. Through discussions with his step mother, Burgess landed with the Easterlings just before entering high school. It was a great fit as the Easterlings had already been fostering children for years and to add Burgess and his older sister to the family was a no brainer.
 
"They really have been a blessing in my life and how God has placed them in my life. It has been a blessing for them. They have always been a part of my life but me moving in with them at 12 years old definitely changed my life," said Burgess. "They are great people. They have been foster parents for about as long as they have been married. They were never able to have their own kids. Some people would say this is a bad thing but it is a blessing in disguise as they have been able to bless so many people throughout the years from fostering."
 
Uncle Steve became a strong influence in encouragement and guided him along in his football career. Burgess had always loved football but didn't start playing until he was a freshman in high school. Being behind in understanding the sport, Uncle Steve continued to be there pushing him to get better. Burgess quotes, "The person that has definitely helped me stick with football is my Uncle Steve. There have been times when I was down but he has always been there to push me."
 
The connection between Burgess and the Easterlings was instant since they had already been in his life. Football, faith, and food became a constant in the family living just outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU Tigers, gumbo, and catfish became favorites of Burgess living with the Easterlings. "I love Louisiana and my family. It's great. I love LSU football and the food, definitely. This cannot be touched by any other state. I love my aunt's tacos. She makes really good tacos. My uncle actually makes really good catfish, too," says Burgess.
 
He also had great support from his biological sister D'shawna and adopted cousin turned sister, Reese. In this process, his parental aunt Lasonja was a huge support. Burgess says, "My Aunt Lasonja has been a huge help in my life. She has constantly supported me as well as praying for me to succeed."
 
As Burgess progressed through high school, the thought of playing college football never crossed his mind. Entering his senior year, he had no offers to play anywhere and thought his football playing days were done. But it was his Uncle Steve that encouraged him to go to a camp at the Denham Springs High School to see if he could get any college looks.
 
God has a plan.
 
Calvin Ruzicka is the defensive coordinator for ETBU and was that camp in Denham Springs. Burgess did well on his 40-yard dash and other drills and was noticed by Ruzicka. After the camp, Ruzicka directed messaged Burgess to see if he would be interested in looking at ETBU.
 
"I went to the camp as my uncle forced me to go as I thought I would never play college football. Coach Ru (ETBU's defensive coordinator) was there watching and pulled me over to the side and talked with me telling me he was going to keep in touch," says Burgess.
 
That led to a visit in Marshall, Texas, at ETBU. Burgess came on a visit to the campus with his family to see if it was the right fit. Steve says, "We toured ETBU on a preview day and fell in love with the staff and facilities.  We knew this is where EJ needed to be for his education. We do not believe there was any comparison to other schools he visited."
 
Burgess follows with, "When I came here on my visit, I knew this was the place I needed to be. It's a beautiful campus and I loved the teammates that were there."
 
God's plan works for the good. From losing both of his parents, to not playing football until he was a freshman in high school, to finding family to raise him, God's plan was working the entire time.
 
He has been able to grow in his faith at ETBU in the past four years and make memories with his brothers on the football team. The memories made will be kept with him for a lifetime. One that sticks out is upsetting Wisconsin-Platteville in the 2021 season opener in Wisconsin. Burgess says, "Beating Wisconsin-Platteville on the road last year as they hadn't lost a home opener in over 20 years was something great. To do something like that felt special."
 
ETBU has become home for Burgess living life with his football brothers. As a student, he had to learn about servant-leadership and what it meant to be a leader. Sometimes, though, that can be hard to do as a freshman. Burgess says, "Through football and helping the kids at the elementary school, I feel God worked on my heart to become a better servant leader. I didn't really want to do it at first but God worked on me. I really love doing it now. It has really changed my life from not wanting to do it to enjoying to do it."
 
Along with that, faith is a major part of servant-leadership and expressing what God is doing in your life. Burgess quotes, "Before I got here my faith was a little rough. I feel like God was challenging me in a lot of different ways and that I could never catch a break. Then I realized that without lows in your life there is no highs. I feel like God giving me those challenges really made my life better than it really is because without those lows I couldn't enjoy the great things in life like being a collegiate athlete or anything like that. I'm glad for that and ETBU has really helped me to grow in my spiritual journey. I'm glad I came here."
 
This year, Burgess officially became a part of the Easterling family as they made it official with the adoption. Steve says, "We formally adopted them recently. It was just a natural fit as they (him and his sister) have been part of our family all along and we have loved him and his sister as our own."
 
God had a plan.
 
Burgess is now set to graduate in December 2022 and wants to go to law school. He wants to make a difference in the life of children after seeing the example his Aunt Sara and Uncle Steve set. Their love and care of children through fostering opened up a door and life for Burgess that he had not seen before. Now he knows what children have to go through that need to be fostered.
 
He says, "I want to do something in family law after seeing what my aunt and uncle have done in people's lives. I've seen that they can really change people's lives. My aunt does a lot working with that still. I know a lot of those kids need lawyers and if I can make that a priority I would love to try and change their lives."
 
God has a plan.
 
From losing both of his parents at a young age, learning to play football late in life, being adapted this year, to now prepping for law school. God's plan shines through the life of the Easterlings and Burgess.