As we come to the end of another semester here at CTS there are so many things I cant help but reflect on, as I’m sure there are for each of you reading this as well. But the one thing that I keep coming back to is that the body of Christ is not a here and now thing only, but the beginnings, the present tense as it were, of a forever relationship we have with Christ and His people.
I didn’t come into Seminary seeking to gain new friends. I didn’t endeavor to learn 2 new languages so that I might have more people to pray with and for and to have pray for me in my times of need. I didn’t travel to Michigan twice and have countless late nights so that I could be on a first name basis with people i’d never have met otherwise and who may or may not ever work with or around me as a pastor or ministry leader. And because none of that was on my mind, it is the one thing that I cannot shake from my mind in this season.
“Why all of this dramatic reflection, Adam?”
I’m glad you asked. Because as many of you know, my son Aiden had a massive seizure at the end of April. He was rushed to a hospital, then rushed to another hospital 2 hours away from us and over the course of 4 days went through test after test to eventually diagnose him with Sudden Onset Epilepsy. Those 4 days I spent in an Orlando hospital I spent with one son but away from another and from a daughter. my family was split in painful ways and I could not be there to care and comfort Aiden’s twin brother or their 8 year old sister, both of whom were scared they would not see their brother again. The unpredictable nature of this experience could have created a massive sense of aloneness in the hearts of my wife, my children and myself.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ands that I exactly what happened. he demonstrated to our family the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness by revealing to us a massive, and I do mean massive family that we didn’t realize we were a part of.
I suppose in a theological sense of the word, my wife and I knew that we were part of this bigger family of God. but in this valley we were walking through, of pain and of sickness and of unsureness, the floodgates opened. We learned in a matter of 24 hours the depth that God’s love goes for us. Nearly 100 people from our church and community reached out with prayers and words of sympathy and encouragement. Just over 50 members of the CTS community reached out in concern and with love and prayers for my son and my family and myself. We learned of a church in China that is praying for us. A network of churches in Nigeria that are praying for us. Missionaries in Ukraine that amidst the turmoil of the war are praying for us. We had people spring into action to watch over our two children while my wife and I were away at the hospital. a whole community of friends and family united to care for our dog and while they were at our home with the dog, took it upon themselves to clean out house so that when we returned we had space to breathe.The youth group at our church made a giant card and prayed for my family, the Sunday school classes made cards and held hands to pray over them. family members that were estranged found their way back into our lives as a result. And my son, during this dark and scary time, met Christ is a very, very real way and though he was already saved, he was the one of my three kiddos most skeptical of full surrender. And just like when Paul write’s out his various lists, this list of mine was not exhaustive, but representative of a much longer list of all the ways the body of Christ surrounded me and my family.
I was walking through a season of my life where I felt close to the Lord but distant from His people. I felt very much like my wife and I were alone in this walk and what the enemy meant to harm our family, the Lord used for God. And it was so good. I feel so very truly blessed by the experience we walked through, and with absolute certainty I can sit here and say that amidst all of the good things, bad things, hard things, easy things, heavy things, light things, all the things that are wrapping up at the end of the seminary semester and all the things that carry over into summer, I know that I know that I know that God is good all the time, and that he is near to us in more ways that we even realize.
I hope and pray that as you each wrap up your CTS year and prepare for either a summer off or a summer semester, that you remember that one big truth, He is with you, He loves you, and He’s got you. Amen.
Adam Sculnick
Sinner | Saint | Servant
find me on Youtube and social media @TheSarcasticApologist
And check out my new book Prosperity/Gospel available June 2022 wherever books are sold.