Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Chase the Lion by Mark Batterson

I have really enjoyed the books and other resources that come out with Batterson's name.

This latest book is a sequel to his initial hit-of-a-book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. The story of Pastor Mark and his direction to the D.C. area and starting a church is terrific. The growth his church has seen is fantastic and the changed lives is a testament to that work.

Recently I've grown a bit uneasy with reading some of these books. Or re-reading them. No doubt, they are based on stories found in the Old Testament - particularly the stories of King David and the men who were with him throughout the years.

As I read the words and the encouragement from Pastor Mark, I started to wonder if this was more or less a Christian version of those business/leadership books that are a dime a dozen.

I understand pursuing God's best for you. I understand dreaming big. I understand having the faith that scares you because what you dream is so much bigger than what you can do.

But I'm worried ... and I can't even put my finger directly on what it is that causes my unease. So let's just put the fault at my current perspective.

Do you pursue whatever dream you have and ask God to bless your pursuit? Do you wait for God to give you a dream and then ask God to bless it? Is this more of a asking God to follow you on what you want to do?

Again, I don't think this is exactly what these books propose but, for whatever reason, I'm still a little uneasy about it.

Now having said that, Mark is fantastic at encouragement! He's like Max Lucado in the storytelling department and getting you to feel like everything is going to be okay and you are going to do great things when you depend on the God of the Bible.

This is why I like reading his books. He has a natural talent that speaks to many many people. And even with my current hesitations, I will read the next book that comes out with his name on the cover.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Multnomah Publishing.

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