Militia on the Runway

Here is another entry from my forthcoming devotional "African Missionary Devotional Stories Part 2". This is one of my favorite stories from my Madagascar experiences.  

Day 20: Militia on the Runway

Quote of the Day: "I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything but it came at some time; no matter at how distant a day, somehow, in some shape, probably the least I would have devised, it came” -Adoniram Judson

Verse of the Day: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14

            Our helicopter had been parked overnight at the Manakara airport. It was a small mold ridden building a few hundred feet from Madagascar’s Eastern coastline. It had once been fully operational with direct flights to Antanarivo a couple of times a week for French tourists desiring to get a little R&R. Economic sanctions coupled with political instability changed this drastically. The airport saw only a few chartered flights a year now.

When we had landed the day before, a well-dressed man had come running out of the airport to see the strange sight of several white people disembarking from the iron bird. His tone and attitude were both hostile as well as combative.

“Who gave you permission to land here?”

The pilot of the helicopter was a former French military Special Forces who had seen action in some hairy corners of the world. He had already regaled us with stories of the Kosovo War back in 1999. As such he didn’t take kindly to the cold reception.

“We filed papers in Antanarivo. They called ahead to tell the airport that we were coming.” He retorted.

“I wasn’t alerted of your coming. They never called.”

“I was in the air traffic control office when they called,” he shot back.

Since he had no official uniform, badge, or identification of any kind we brushed past him to meet our contacts waiting for us on the ground. 

We had planned an evangelism, fact-finding, medical trip to several small villages in the surrounding forested areas of Manakara. The plan was to spend the night in Manakara so we could pick up three additional passengers for the mission. It would require two trips to each village as the helicopter could handle 5 people including the pilot and we now had a team of 8 people. 

Since the villages were so close to Manakara it wouldn’t be difficult to use the airport as a central hub to ferry people back and forth throughout the following couple of days.

Early the next morning we all assembled at the airport.  There wasn’t a person to be seen anywhere except an elderly watchman whose sole responsibility in life was to clear the runway for the few flights that visited Manakara. He used a whistle to chase people and sometimes goats off the landing strip. It was pretty funny to watch, but I digress.

As the helicopter warmed up and the first part of our group was whisked away to the interiors of Madagascar’s rain forest, I noticed this man on his cell phone.  He seemed rather excited in his communication.

A few minutes later the helicopter roared back into sight and myself, my friend Aaron, and a Malagasy medical doctor known as Dr. Fils jumped on board the waiting chopper. Our pilot had to find a restroom before taking off and went into the airport building for a few minutes. As we waited the chopper blades screamed above us in full rotation. Suddenly, I noticed a several jeeps speeding down the airport road.

It looked like military personnel. As they neared, the turret of a mounted M-60 became evident. Several heavily armed Malagasy soldiers jumped off the back of one of the jeeps. All weapons were pointed in our direction as the helicopter pilot emerged from his potty break. It looked like big trouble.

Aaron and Dr. Fils jumped off the helicopter and headed in that direction. I could see soldiers yelling as gun barrels pointed directly at my team members. The gentleman from the day before emerged from one of the jeeps now clothed in full military regalia. The insignia on his uniform indicated he was a colonel in the Malagasy army.

“You are spies!” He yelled.

“We are not spies.” Our French pilot yelled back.

“You have no clearance to be here and you are under arrest.”

“We filed paper work yesterday!”

“That’s not true. I’m impounding the helicopter and taking you all to jail.”

It was a heated argument to say the least. I started praying at the top of my lungs in the Spirit. The helicopter rotors screamed so loud that no one could hear me, except hopefully the Lord.

Our pilot reached into his pocket. “I’m going to call the General of the Malagasy Armed Forces.”

The colonel scoffed in total disbelief.

Both men were at tipping point. The tension was so thick that I feared what would happen if he was bluffing.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I prayed more fervently hoping that this wasn’t some paramilitary stall tactic. I yearned for the General to actually pick up.

No response.

“I told you that you are under arrest.” The colonel lost no time in capitalizing on the change in momentum to take advantage in the argument.

I sighed. This wouldn’t be pretty.

The cell phone started to ring.

“Yes? Hello? General? Yes, this is Jean-Christophe. We are in Manakara and we need your help. I’m talking to one of your men that is out of order in full violation of Malagasy domestic air travel code.”

“He wants to talk to you.” The pilot smugly handed the phone to the colonel.

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Yes? Sir? What?”

The phone hung up. Within moments all weapons were withdrawn and official apologies were issuing forth. We were promised full protection while in the area and that no one would be allowed so much as to get within a kilometer of the helicopter while it was parked on the runway. 

“You really know the General that well?” I later asked my new friend.

“Oh yes. This kind of stuff happens all the time here in Madagascar and he gave me his personal cell phone number in case there is ever any trouble.”

I was impressed to say the least.

“How do you know him?” I asked one final question.

“We go to church together.”

Question of the Day: What does prayer look like to you? How do see your interactions with God in this area?

Musings: Besides missions and spiritual awakening, prayer is probably my favorite subject to talk about. I think the three go together. If we pray we will have spiritual awakening and develop a heart for missions. If we are connected to missions we recognize the need for spiritual awakening and so cry out in prayer. These three pursuits are essential for the work of God to go forward with any kind of effectiveness in our generation. 

Prayer is a deep subject that many authors have written on very extensively. My thought on prayer for today is that we must have awareness that we are not wasting our time. In other words, prayer is a productive endeavor.

This is basically what faith entails in this area. We believe that God wants to hear us. We believe that He has the power and authority to do something about what we are asking. And we believe that He will release His power and authority on our behalf, both in us and around us. Without these three convictions prayer becomes a meaningless religious activity.

Truthfully, I think this is part of the reason why so many Christians have so little time to seek Jesus. They simply don’t believe that there are any results from their praying. We could talk about motivation, perseverance, holiness, etc… as factors of prayer. At the end of the day though the bedrock condition for prayer is faith—a confidence that when we get on the phone to the General of the Armies of Heaven and Earth there will be a response. It may not be immediate, but at the right time there will be a corresponding intervention from heaven as a result of our prayers.