In the latest news we can read a modest testimony from our friend, Brendon Wheeler from London, who in the interview humbly reflects upon the reason why he moved to Ozd with his family. Their fourth son was born before their arrival, now the fifth child is on the way. To settle in a small Transylvanian village after having lived in London is quite a challenge, but his wife told me about their decision with a cheerful certainty. Brendon humbly protests against the idea that this resembles the sacrificial life of missionaries. Neither did Abraham know where his way would lead when he faithfully accepted God’s calling. He didn’t know that he would become a missionary.

The original Hebrew text doesn’t say that God told Abraham, "Go from your land and from your family and go where I send you", but he rather He said, "Come to where I will send you, come to the Land of Promises." God was already waiting for His friend, the forefather of the chosen people, in the land of Canaan. The calling is not a sending, the mission doesn’t mean being appointed, but He calls where He is already waiting for me. The mission means that God is waiting for me. He does not send, but is awaiting those He calls. We can also read at the calling of the disciples that “He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out” (Mark 3:14). So, He calls me first to be with Him and without this silent listening at His feet there is no sending out.

The great battle in a disciple’s life is whether I am, or I will go, to where He calls me, where God is waiting for me. Maria Molnar, our missionary, kept on saying that "...if God wants to see me in the Pitilu Islands among the cannibals because He is waiting for me there, and I am in Budapest, then 'woe is me!' " I can’t expect that He would be with me. But this is not a constraint. Terah, the father of Abraham set off to go to Canaan, but midway he came to a sudden stop. God didn’t strain the situation. But He called his son, Abraham: where your father gave up, you should continue. When Terah became 145 years old, Abraham left him and brought his nephew Lot with him, too. Terah's other son, Haran, had already died and Terah did not see the departed family again in his remaining 60 years.

Who formed Abraham’s faith then, when everybody around him was sunk in idolatry?

If we count it, Noah died when Abraham was already 58 years old. Probably, not only Terah’s searching for God but Noah’s faith had also had an effect on Abraham. In the Hebrew alphabet there are only consonants and they serve as numeric letters too. The letters in Noah’s name are numbers which mean 50 and 8, which is 58 altogether. Noah dies when Abraham is 58 years old, he dies and in the same time a new Noah is to be born. A great man of God dies in order to be born an even greater man. A witness of God leaves, but God provides a new one so that the world would not remain without witnesses. Noah dies when Abraham becomes a new Noah, the advocate of faith and truth, like his great predecessor. God never remains without witnesses on the Earth--there are Abrahams in every generation. None of the disciples should fear death--don’t worry who will continue your work and your service here on the Earth.

Abraham turns to be a blessing, after God blesses him. He becomes not only a blessed person, but also a blessing for others. And maybe the one who is a blessing many times is not even aware of it. “Do not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.” – Jesus says. We shall be a blessing there where the Lord calls us and waits for us.