Culture Clash

I am a Southern Californian living in Northern Nevada...it's a different world. My parents are already considering themselves Nevadans and I dread going to the DMV to register my car and give up my CA license plate and driver's license. I'm clinging to some semblance of my heritage, but that doesn't matter too much because I am an outsider.

I'm a forward thinker, my mind is way more open than those that surround me. Some of my friends here can't ever imagine living anywhere else and don't have much desire to explore the world. Really?!

Lately, all I can think about is everything I miss about Orange County. Just the accessibility of everything, more than 1 store brand or restaurant within a 50 mile radius. More things to do than go out to a casino or the local Cineplex. More life, more opportunities...I am so spoiled.
My family loves it here and I know that I am not meant to stay here. I'm here for a reason, God brought me here for a purpose and I'm beginning to catch glimpses of it. Whether I return to the OC or move on to somewhere else is still up in the air, but I still believe that God doesn't want me to settle down yet.

I never went away to college, or been on an extended missions trip but I believe that's what my being here is like. This is a training ground, God is using this time in my life to mold me more into what he wants me to be and who he wants me to be, how he wants me to further his kingdom.
I'm learning a lot about the different types of people and the different views that exist in the world and within the Church.

I took a huge blow when after a service one night I was talking to a friend about books and asked him if he ever read "The Shack" he said no and I asked him why not and he said, "Because it's heresy." I was shocked and angered, I began defending this book that I'd come to love so dearly this man whom I'd met and heard speak numerous times. How could something so beautiful be heresy?! My friend had never read it and refused to investigate for himself, choosing just to take the word of his pastor and other "sources". That sort of close-mindedness infuriates me, I believe everyone should have an understanding about what they are arguing over or else say nothing. So the book may not be sound according to Scripture the book was written from the heart about the heart and is FICTION! It's not gospel but it opens people up to the idea of the gospel and gets them to ask questions about who God is and what he did for us and how he loves and longs for a relationship with us. How can that be so WRONG?!

So on that I cannot agree and will not, but maybe that's another reason for me being here; not only to challenge my personal beliefs but to challenge others to see the world differently.

More and more often I'm asking myself what I want to do, what career path should I choose? I love working in ministry and in production; if I could get paid doing that I would be stoked. What sort of education would help me get there? Or should I choose another field and stick to volunteering? Please keep these things in prayer for me, starting on a new chapter and a new journey is difficult and I've only just taken the first steps.