God's change of plans

Isn't it amazing when God reveals His will to us!

For the better part of the last two months God has really been working on me and showing me what He wants to do with me. You may remember that I have wanted to go to seminary and go to The Bethlehem Institute. These plans have changed. God has used a sermon by Piper to really effect this change. The sermon is based on Romans 15:18-24 where Paul relates his calling and, as Piper puts it, his "holy ambition." In this section, Paul talks about how he really wants to see the Roman Christians, but he is constrained by His calling and strong desire to preach the name of Jesus where it has not been named. The thing that really struck me about this section is the constrained part. Paul had a strong desire to see the Romans, but because he had an even stronger desire to preach to the unreached he couldn't go to them. I've been talking a lot with Kellen and my parents about this and have been earnestly seeking God's will. I still think it would be awesome to learn from Piper and attend seminary, but my strongest desire by far is to minister in some way to the people in Utah. Utah is not only a physical desert, but it is a spiritual one as well. The people here are lost to the deception of the mormon heresy or they've been so burned by religion that they don't want to have anything to do with God. There is also a very strong satanic subculture that has established itself in the top of Utah. And on top of all of this, the Christians in this area, for the most part, are very lukewarm. I truly think Utah is an oddity in this way. Usually, in areas of persecution (physical, social, or emotional) the Christian community tends to be very strong and united, even if it is small. This is not the case in Utah. There are very few Christian churches in the area, and I believe that there are not very many Christians in those churches. There is very little striving after God and very little desire to plumb the depths of His word. Therefore, my strongest desire is to be used by God to effect change in this area. I believe God is calling me into pastoral ministry and I want to be used here. Of course, God could always change my mind, as He has so many times in the past, but until then this is what I will pursue. I'll probably still try to obtain some seminary level education and I would like to take some Greek and Hebrew courses at Salt Lake Theological Seminary. I'm also being mentored by my dad and sharpened by Kellen and others around me. In the end, God will use me as He sees fit, and I'm completely fine with that :)