Mission families make a lot of sacrifices to be in the field. We are fortunate to live in an age of technology that allows us to video chat with our family or watch NFL football, albeit in the middle of the night sometimes.
We live without many things most people consider to be necessities. Most pronounced among the “things” is a lack of long term security, as guests in a foreign nation. We can’t own a home and we will always be outsiders, foreigners, no matter how long we stay.
Certainly the most pronounced loss is the distance from family. I now live on the other side of the globe from the majority of my 10 kids. We have a grandson that I’ve never met in person and another one coming in 2020.
I always wanted a close family. Our children are close in age, but it’s impossible for ten children to all be close in age. Our oldest was driving before the youngest was born. They only ever lived together for a year.
That loss of family relationships, of shared memories, of extended period of time together is real. It hurts. Some days it nearly paralyzes me. I miss my kids.
But I am thankful.
Because today I watched my 16 yr old ride out the lane with an adopted big brother, chatting away in the local dialect. Mark and Luke have developed a close big brother relationship with Pastor Jonel, our “adopted” Ati son. Matthew will always be the coddled favorite of Emmalyn our helper who tireless helps cook and clean for the ever growing youth group activities and nights of Pastor’s fellowship meetings.
These ministry teammates are more than teammates, they are family to my kids. They are family to us. They are the people who will have our backs and they know that we have theirs. In the midst of loss and sacrifice, God gave us more family.
So there’s no Homecoming for my kids, no organized sports or after school activities. But there are days working on ministry projects side by side, afternoons learning the local way of fishing, inside jokes and a little rough housing (remember my crew is all boys!). These things don’t replace the love and value we place on our biological family so far away, but they are a sweet gift from God— His way of giving us more family and helping to fill in the empty holes in our hearts when we are far apart.
Blood makes you related, but love makes you family.
Who has God placed in your life to become a part of your family? Who’s your tribe?
