Tarshish

I’ve been reading a LOT lately. Between our 90 day Bible reading plan, “Under the Unpredictable Plant” (the book assigned by my PRIME mentor), and novels for entertainment, most of my free time is spent reading. I feel like I’m back in school, but this time, there are no grades or teachers to set deadlines. It takes significant will power to continue to read 10-16 chapters of the Bible a day when the Hobbit seems like it takes so much less effort. No matter how great “Under the Unpredictable Plant” is, it is still heavy theology and requires thinking.

Apparently, I don’t like to think.

Feel free to click "read more" to read about that? haha.



Apparently, I am more interested in made up worlds than the Word of God for this one.

Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with Tolkein. He’s a great author and a giant in the world of Christian artists. However, a problem arises when I seek to escape what is around me in exchange for someone else’s adventures.

You would think that living in a foreign country serving the Lord with the gifts that he has given me would be enough for me, but it’s not. It’s not because the glamour has faded. I am desensitized.
How could this happen?

In daily life, I feel like Jonah in Joppa torn between the temptation of thrilling Tarshish and a call to tedious Nineveh. The problem is, I can’t discern which is which.

Is my own country a place that would lead me to illusion and complacency, or a place where I could glorify God the most? Is Manila a place that feels adventurous simply because it is different, or a place where God wants us to make a family? What about the rest of the world? What about those people and those needs?

I can’t answer those questions. So, I tune out the world.

Oh God, please show me your ways, and give me the strength to follow them wherever they might lead. I am afraid of making the wrong choice. I am afraid that you will call me to somewhere I hate.

My whole life, people I respect have told me that "God's calling is where your passion and the world's needs collide." The problem is that my God-given passions can be easily confused with my selfish desires for comfort. I know I'm not alone. Tarshish was an extremely popular port city for a reason. Jonah could have gone anywhere from those docks... But that is exactly the problem. Wide is the gate that leads to destruction and narrow is the path of righteousness.

Anyway, enough about me.

What is your Tarshish? What is the thing that tempts you with false glamour and spirituality, but really is just a substitute for the call of God? We all have one.

The beautiful thing is that when we run to it, sometimes God sends us a storm and a giant fish. 

-Rachel