Becca and Caleb fresh off the plane in Madagascar, July 2004.
As I stepped out onto the large staircase connected to the massive Airbus 380, I looked around at the dark tarmac and watched the airport personnel running back and forth between the huge plane and the airport terminal. Finally, I stepped down off the last step and my foot came down on Malagasy soil for the first time. Since then I have lived as an MK (Missionary Kid) in Madagascar these past six years and in France for a year before that. My time living outside of the United States as an MK has greatly affected who I am and what I will become. I have learned a lot about myself, and have learned a lot about who I am and who God needs me to be.
From our first weeks in Madagascar, Caleb embraced all of Madagascar's wildlife, especially it's birds.
Through being an MK, God has touched me in nearly every aspect of my life. I have learned to trust God and to be comforted by Him alone. He is my only true constant in life. I understand now, from experience, what it means to go through spiritually rich and spiritually dry times. I have learned how to deal with change even if it means evacuating from my county during a military coup d’etat. But most of all, had I never left the States, I would have never realized just how much God cares about the things that are important to me and that He can use those things for His glory.
Who is that white kid?
When one is an MK it seems that there is a lot of pressure put on you to go into the ministry. For me though, I never felt a pull to go into the ministry, at least not in the official meaning of the word. From the time I was very small, I was very analytical, lining up all my toys in straight lines from tallest to shortest. As a toddler I sorted cards according to some system that I made up in my head and other similar games that I would play for hours. Science has always been my thing, and God has blessed me in this field of study. I used to ask myself how liking science was supposed to be pleasing to God. I wondered how studying the migratory patterns of Blue Cranes, or watching bacteria grow in a lab, or teaching a 9th grade biology class was supposed to compare with being a pastor or a missionary somewhere.
Caleb has always preferred being outdoors in the wild, whether it's a forest or a beach..bring it on!
I remember about a year ago, asking God if He wanted to use me somewhere in ministry and the reply I got back on that prayer was in effect “We’ll see.” Really that is the only answer I needed, because with that response the images came back from the many different events in my life where God came through for me. He showed me things He had done that had everything to do with my relationship with Him, the strengths in the gifts and passions he has given me and very little to do with, should I say, orthodox ministry.
The most common view of Caleb in Madagascar.
One example of this was when we evacuated from Madagascar in early 2009. The experience of being evacuated, saying good-bye to your friends, possibly forever, on very short notice, and joining a new large high school part way through the quarter is a horrible and very lonely experience. Identifying birds has always been a passion of mine, and certainly something I never thought God would ever use. That changed on the night we evacuated. An African Marsh Owl, one of the 30 species of birds on the island that I had not yet seen, was sitting on the tail of the plane. It was like God had reached down from heaven and said I’ll be with you will no matter what happens during this chaos. When we got to Kenya, despite having been there several times, I saw new birds everywhere. By the time we returned to Madagascar a month and a half later I had observed over 150 new species of birds, even though in that whole time I hardly left Nairobi, a bustling city of nearly three million people. The best part for me was when we finally got back to Madagascar. I spotted a pair of Sooty Falcons flying over the airport parking lot. Yes, they were a new species as well. Now could all of those birds have been just a great big coincidence? Sure, but the feeling of comfort and reassurance that came from seeing everyone of those birds was not.
Caleb birding during the evacuation to Nairobi, Kenya 2009.
Many times God has given me little reminders like that; things that mean volumes to me and very little to most other people. Madagascar itself is like a candy store for me, with more then 80% of all its species found nowhere else in the world. Living here I have learned a lot about who God is and what He wants me to do. What I have learned boils down to this; while I don’t exactly know what God wants of me, I do know that I am gifted in science, analytical and critical thinking, and I have a real relationship with the Lord Jesus. Another thing I know for sure is that He does not care if I become a pastor or a missionary in my adult life. He needs me to be me and to use the gifts He has given me for His glory. For now I will go to university and study biology. Where that will lead to, I do not know, but I know that God is backing me in this and if that is the case, His plan will become clearer in time.
Caleb's Senior Portrait 2011
Well said, Caleb. Congratulations on graduating!
great writing, Caleb!