The Family of God

This last week has been a particularly difficult one for Michael and our family. We are approximately halfway through Michael’s second course of chemo. We were told that this course would be difficult, but until just recently, it had gone relatively smoothly. Part of the chemo regimen in this course involves Michael getting weekly spinal taps for four consecutive weeks. We are grateful that the last of those four took place today, and we are done with spinal taps for a while. Because a spinal tap is a surgical procedure, our days in the hospital can be quite long. For the last four weeks, our appointments have begun anywhere between 7:00 AM and 8:30 AM. Consequently, Michael and I have been driving down to Ann Arbor the night before and staying in a hotel room. We are grateful that our insurance has covered the cost of the room.

Last Sunday, March 23rd, I specifically asked our church to pray for Michael because the particular chemo drug that he was getting the next day was known for being brutal. Of the eight chemo drugs that Michael has been given thus far, CALPEG is the nastiest. This is the drug responsible for Michael passing out in the hospital during our inpatient stay.

We had been told the previous week to plan on coming back down on Tuesday for a blood transfusion and platelets. However, nothing went according to plan this week. On Monday, we arrived at the hospital at approximately 6:20 AM. We pulled out of the parking garage to go home that evening at 6:20 PM. One of the biggest contributors to our 12-hour visit was that when we got Michael’s blood work that morning, his platelets were extremely low. For Michael to get a spinal tap, his platelet count needs to be at or above 30. This had never been an issue before, but that morning his count was at 7. This meant that Michael ended up getting three bags of platelets before we were able to proceed. This little hiccup set our schedule back by approximately two and a half hours.

Normally, when Michael has a spinal tap, we will be done with the procedure and back to the infusion area for chemo around noon. On this day we didn’t get back to infusion until after 2:00 PM. One of the things that we learned with our last experience with CALPEG is that you never want to take it on an empty stomach. However, Michael had been prohibited from eating anything until after the spinal tap was over. And coming out of the anesthetic, he didn’t have an appetite. I had a serious heart-to-heart conversation with him and finally convinced him to eat something before he began getting the CALPEG. Since Michael had also been prohibited from drinking fluids before the spinal tap, the nurses gave him a bag of fluids through his central line following the chemo.

While we were in infusion, I had a conversation with the nurses, and it was agreed to bump Michael’s next visit back to Thursday, because he had received platelets on Monday. We were finally released and got home that evening after 8:00.

Tuesday was a surprisingly good day for Michael. He was in good spirits and his energy was much better than anticipated. But CALPEG is a MONSTER, and on Wednesday, everything came crashing down. Michael woke up that morning not feeling well and experiencing symptoms of low hemoglobin. Sarah called the hospital, and they told us to bring him in. Long story short, Michael received a transfusion, and more fluids that day. And we scheduled a follow-up appointment for Friday. On Friday, Michael made his third trip to Ann Arbor in a week, this time with Sarah. He received another transfusion and more platelets. From Wednesday to Saturday, the CALPEG completely wiped him out. He was very weak and experienced flu-like symptoms during this time.

All during this time our church family was praying. And the prayers were definitely felt. Michael, to his credit, never complained once, even when he was absolutely miserable. He stayed home on Sunday and rested as the CALPEG had lowered his ANC to extremely low levels and compromised his immune system (which we expected).

But on Sunday, Sarah and I had the privilege of attending my parent’s Sunday school class at the church I grew up in: Calvary Baptist in Midland, MI, approximately thirty minutes away from where we currently live. Because Calvary’s service times are earlier than our church’s we were able to attend Sunday School at Calvary and still make it back in time for our morning worship service.

The Joint Heirs class has been a part of my family’s life for over 40 years. There are people in the class who held me when I was a baby. They have become and continue to be extended family to us. They invited Sarah and I to attend because they had taken up a collection to help with costs related to Michael’s care. Over the years, the Joint Heirs class has generously given to many people in need. This time, Sarah and I were the beneficiaries of their incredible generosity.

What I did not know until we arrived that morning was that this particular Sunday was also my dad’s last as their Sunday school teacher. My dad has been battling memory loss for almost five years now, and was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2023. My parents had told us that he was going to be stepping down from his Sunday school teaching responsibilities in March, but we didn’t know that we were attending his retirement celebration. Sarah and I had initially planned on slipping out early but quickly decided to stay for most of the class time.

It was such a blessing to hear both of my parents’ testimonies of how much the class has meant to them over the years. The people in that class have stuck with them through the highs and lows of life for over 4 decades. They have been there for them through my mom’s open-heart surgery and through the flood of 2020 that devastated their house. They have laughed, cried, and prayed with and for my parents, their children, and their grandchildren.

It was also a blessing to hear the testimonies of several of the class members. It was so evident that they consider each other family, and I was reminded of how special it is to be a part of the family of God.

It was no coincidence that in my sermon that day, I covered Mark 10:29-31: “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

When a person gets saved, they are placed into the family of God. They instantly become part of a family that numbers in the millions. I told my church on Sunday, that while some might find this a bit overwhelming and might not be so sure that a family of such size is a good thing, there will come a point in your life when you need those extended family members. My family and I are going through such a time right now. It has been an incredible encouragement to see the family of God rally around us. We have thousands of people praying for us all over the country and around the world in places as far away as Africa and Australia. Countless brothers and sisters in Christ have reached out, including some whom we’ve never met before. Our extended family members have been so gracious and generous to us. Their acts of kindness are too numerous to try to list.

I am so grateful that even though we are walking through one of the most difficult trials of our lives, we are not walking alone. We have a family of prayer warriors who are on this journey with us, and we are so grateful for their love and support during this time.