When are you going to retire?” has been a common question during our recent furlough. We are, after all, in what is commonly considered retirement age. I will admit to being surprised the first time I was asked this question (maybe I would like to deny I’m that old), but it is a fair question.

In the Bible’s account of Abram, when the Lord told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees to journey to a land “he knew not,” Abram became a missionary sent by God to a foreign country. In this story we see Abram going without question, dedicating himself to the Lord’s leading and not looking back. Abraham, as he came to be known, lived out his years in the land to which God called him, and we have no record of him asking, “Can I go home now?”

This story resonates with us, both for its differences and its similarities in comparison with our call. One significant difference is that while our children went with us to Palawan, they now reside with their families in the States. Also, our aging parents did not accompany us on our mission to a foreign country, though they sent us with their blessing. The other significant difference is that when we were sent, it was with the understanding that we were going for about six years. There was a planned endpoint.

The similarity between our story and Abraham’s is simply that we were sent for a specific mission to a country not our own—we were sent as missionaries. As we have endeavored to be true to the mission to which we are called, we have relinquished our right to an endpoint and to plan our own future. Since God is the One who sent us, we are praying to keep our eyes focused on His purpose, not looking back and asking, “Can we go home now?”

So, to the oft-asked question, “When are you going to retire?” our answer is, “We don’t know. The Lord hasn’t changed our orders yet.”

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