“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16)
When I first graduated from high school, in 1997, I did not have a clear direction for my life. It would have been nice if God had laid out everything plain for me. But life doesn’t work that way. As we seek God and walk by faith we discover His plan and purpose for our lives.
Unsure about what to do, I decided not to go to college right away. Ultimately, after seeking God, and with the encouragement of my pastor, I took a step of faith and went to North Central University in Minnesota to pursue a ministry degree.
After three semesters of college I left due to the turmoil caused by a dysfunctional relationship with a girl and some personal failures. I was once again at the place of seeking God’s direction for my life.
Despite my failures God was at work. He was up to something. The process of discovering His will and purpose was just that, a process. Recently a man preached at our church and said, in essence, that the reason finding God's will is hard is because God wants us to seek Him, and in seeking Him we find His will.
During the next fall I took a greyhound bus to a ministry in New York City. I spent about a week ministering to children in the inner city of New York. I thought perhaps I would join their internship program. Though my time in New York was one of the greatest experiences of my life, after returning to Michigan, it became clear in my heart that New York City was not the place I was supposed to be.
Though New York was not the place for me, I believed God had called me to a city. One night, several months after returning from New York, I was at church praying at the altar on a Sunday night. I prayed a prayer of exasperation: “God, if you’ve called me to the city then give me a city.” It wasn’t necessarily a prayer I expected God to answer.
The next Saturday night, during our worship band practice, my pastor prayed, “Lord speak to us in our dreams tonight.” That night I had a dream. In the dream I was driving around a city with my friend Joel. We didn’t know what city we were in. We asked a person or two but they wouldn’t tell us. And then, out of the sky, a voice clearly said, “Dallas, Texas.”
I woke up the next morning with an excitement inside of me. I got out my Road Atlas and found Dallas on the map. Living in Texas had never been on the radar screen of my life. I tested the dream, talked with my parents, and even took a trip to Texas to spy out the land. The more I proceeded the more I knew Texas was where I was supposed to be. In many ways, it was an exciting time in my life. I was following God by faith on a great adventure.
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