The Chosen Son
Mark Schultz knows he's lucky to be alive today, because his birthmother chose to give him up for adoption rather than abort. He tells the story in a new song … and here.
by Maryann B. Hunsberger | posted 9/18/2006
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When Mark Schultz wrote the song "Everything to Me," the story of a young mother choosing to place her newborn baby into the care of an adoptive family, he had more than just a pro-life sentiment in mind.
Mark Schultz
He had his life in mind. Because that young mother was his mom.
The song, which appears on Schultz's new album, Broken & Beautiful, has opened the door for the singer/songwriter to tell his own adoption story for the first time. Only within recent months has Schultz revealed the news that he was adopted.
Schultz, only two weeks old when he was adopted, didn't fully understand it till he was in the third grade when he and his sister were looking at their baby books, and Mark noticed that hers had more information than his.
"I asked my mom about it," Schultz remembers. "She said, 'It's because we didn't get to choose your brother and your sister. They just came along, and that is who we got. With you, we went to the hospital and decided who we wanted. We chose you because we loved you the most and thought you were the most special child there.'
"That tells a kid right there that he's got it going on! I felt great about being adopted. When my sister and I would get into a fight, instead of her saying, 'You're adopted' as a way to make me feel bad, I'd say, 'Mom didn't have a choice when she got you, but she chose me!'"
Schultz's adoptive parents cheered him on as he played football, basketball, baseball, ran track, sang and did theater in high school. "I'd score a touchdown or whatever, and my father would yell, 'That's my son!' He loved us all the same. It was a neat, positive experience. I got the best parents in the world."
Schultz feels that being adopted causes him to appreciate life more. "I don't take anything for granted. I wake up in the morning and thank God that I'm alive. Adoption is such a gift."
Remembering his birthmother
That reality especially hit home when Schultz was doing a benefit concert for Bethany Christian Services. When an adoption worker asked about his birthmother, he replied that it didn't seem like his birthmother wanted him.
"The woman said that if my birthmother had chosen abortion, I wouldn't even be having this conversation," Schultz says. "She reminded me that my birthmother carried me for nine months and made the hardest decision in her life, giving me to a family who could love me and give me the opportunities she couldn't. She said my birthmother thought about me and not herself."
That prodded Schultz to write "Everything to Me," since he realized he was finally ready to approach the subject in song.
"Until then, I hadn't thought it through all the way, and I wasn't mature enough," he says. "I also wasn't sure how my parents would take it. I didn't want them to think that I don't consider them my real parents, because they are my real parents. I think the song not only thanks my birthmother, but it also thanks my parents. They are such a godly influence and such great people.
"I played the song for my [adoptive] mom after I wrote it, and as we were listening to it, she grabbed my hand. Her face turned red and she was trying to keep the tears from running down her face. When we got out of the car, she gave me a big hug and wouldn't let me go. It was really special."
The lyrics read in part:
You gave life to me
A chance to find my dreams
And a chance to fall in love
You should have seen her shining face
On our wedding day
Oh is this the dream you had in mind
When you gave me up
You gave everything to me
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