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When Friends become Family

Madagascar is a beautiful country. Her people and landscape are beyond compare. I think I love this culture so much because they like to laugh as much as I do…which is a lot. They have holidays for whichever way the wind blows…which allows for long weekends off of language. This particular weekend, many people celebrated Ascension…our language teacher had some errands that needed to be done, so we got a 4 DAY WEEKEND!!! Please, do not underestimate the excitement in those 3 words.

We had been longing to get out of Tana for a little R&R, and when this long weekend presented itself, we QUICKLY (and I do mean quickly…like 20 minutes after we were told) jumped on a plan to visit friends in another city. We traveled right after class on Thursday to make the 3-4 hour journey south. We stayed the night in that city and ate GREAT food…then continued straight (there is one road in Madagascar…and it only goes straight…) for 5-6 more hours to Fianarantsoa.

There is a large university in Fianarantsoa where 2 of our ministry partners attend. We met up with them and asked them to show us around town! They took us to their university, where, big shocker, we got some strange looks. They grabbed a guitar and said “we are taking you to the best place!” Of course, I didn’t know what that meant, but when a local says it’s the best place, you trust them. We traveled the bumpy roads, got lost, kept going and then arrived. They had taken us to, what I think was called “The View”. This overlooks the entire city of Fianarantsoa. You could see, literally everything. We saw our hotel, the airstrip, the famous train station, and the Foreigner Cemetery. In case you were needing to know, as a foreigner you can essentially borrow a tomb for 5 months, then you have to be sent back to your country. Just fyi. We had a great time with our friends. I am looking forward to doing ministry in Manakara with these two! Once my language skills improve, I know we will have so much fun, Manakara won’t even know what to do with us.

One of my closest national friends and his family now live in Fianarantsoa. If you know me, you have probably heard me speak of Mika and Hary and their two girls-Tony and Miantsa. They are just about as sweet as they come and I was so excited for Megan to get to know them better. Mika and I became friends when I was here in 2013. We kept in contact and have remained good friends! Mika and Hary are not only my brother and sister in Christ, but they feel like my own flesh and blood.

I am not quite sure when it happened, but somewhere between 2013 and now, we became family. You know what I’m talking about. Those friends, who have seen you at your worst, but still love you the same. There is no fade to their love. There is no expiration date. Good and bad, they’re there. Helping you pick up the pieces and move on to where God is sending you. The Bible speaks of this kind of love. Did you know? Have you forgotten?

 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:35

Something speaks to people when you love one another. It shows the unconditional love of a Heavenly Father who is much more capable of love than we could even dream of being. We live in a world of disappointments and fear. A world where it is better to hate than to love. As Christ continually tells us in scripture, we are to be counter cultural. Always. There is never a moment that our lives should be defined by hate or fear. They should be defined by how we love. Unconditionally.

I recently found a new album by Bethel. I say found, because on the other side of the world, it is almost impossible to stay current with American culture. Anyways, I found this album called Starlight. I don’t think there’s a song on the entire thing I don’t like. One of my favorites is titled For The One. My favorite lines in the song say:

Help me to love with open arms like you do
A love that erases all the lines and sees the truth
Oh that when they look in my eyes, they would see You
Even in just a smile, they would feel the Father’s love

To my friend’s parents, love shines and radiates. His father shared some sweet words with us, that I will always treasure. I shared how our treasures are not found on earth. They aren’t found where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. They are found in Heavenly things. They are found in the way we love one another. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else on earth than with the people God has put it in my heart to love. There is no greater reason to love the Malagasy people than the simple fact that God gave it to me to share. God’s love is boundless, yet we put boundaries on His love all the time. It crosses cultures. It spans the globe. It is in everything we see. Yet, here we sit, thinking we can’t love our neighbor because they think differently than us.

I want my life to be defined by how I love. I want to let people in and see that I am not perfect, and my love is not perfect, but I am forever in love with a heavenly Father whose love IS perfect. Whose love is boundless. It is extravagant. It is never-ending.

So, let all my life tell of who you are
And the wonder of your never-ending love
Oh let all my life tell of who you are

That you’re wonderful, and such a good Father

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