Who wants to go to the desert?

Acts 8:26, "An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: "Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to desert Gaza." Who wants to go to the desert? That is a question. I am sure many of God's chosen have asked this over the generations. When we think of God working in our lives or when we ask Him to use us; the last place we have in mind is the desert. "Send me, oh Lord, anywhere you want just not to the desert!" That seems like a reasonable request. After all the desert is dry. There is nothing there to see. It is hot and let's face it no one else is there. But God loves the desert. He has used it for boot camp to prepare many of His chosen. He loves the isolation. He loves the fact that there is nothing there to depend on but Him. And after all that is the greatest lesson He wants to teach His people. God created the desert and I believe He did so for a greater purpose than to fill space. He has used this divine creation to school those He plans to use in great ways. The desert is representative of difficult times in our lives as well. And like the literal desert, these "deserts" are times that we learn that we can depend on God and that He is faithful. Without them we would never learn that dependance. No one wants to go to the desert, but when God leads us there it is to prove us and refine us for His work. No one like the desert, but it is there sometimes that God does His best work. Philip had no idea what God was going to do when the angel instructed him to go the desert. It may also be that Philip was confused and had a little unbelief in his heart, but he went anyway. And it was there that God used Philip to explain the gospel to someone who was searching for truth. It was there that Philip learned that God has a purpose and plan for everything He does. We don't know it, but I would like to believe Philip was eager after that encounter to go to the desert again. No one likes the desert, but everyone comes back better for it.