the lions den: book review: wild goose chase

Last year Dave read In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and loved it. Not that Dave never reads, but he almost couldn’t put this book down, which definitely told me it was special. Well, I realized just how special it was when after we found out we were having a boy Dave said he wanted to name our son after Benaiah, the character in the Bible that this book is based off of. After reading it myself, I realized that yes, it is a great book and is very inspiring and challenging and I also began to understand why Dave loved it so much. Dave LOVES quotes. And I found myself highlighting passage after passage. *we even painted a quote from the book on our nursery wall*

Mark Batterson’s second book, Wild Goose Chase, has that same readability which drew my highlighter to it’s pages. And although I think technically Dave is supposed to review his book, I stole the opportunity from him because frankly…what else was I supposed to do while I wait for our Beniah to come out? *I agreed to name our son after this lion chaser...we just decided to spell it phonetically*

While In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day challenged me, I actually had the time to process through Wild Goose Chase more and therefore I think I’ve gotten more out of this book. Mark seems to be calling all Christians to a life of spiritual adventure-something that I think Jesus also calls us to. It’s frustrating that we tend to get caught up in the everyday mundane processes of our lives and forget to listen for the adventure that God calls us to. I think this is why both of Mark’s book have been so popular-it’s a very simple message, but one that we either forget or can continue to be challenged in.

Anyway-in this book Mark challenges us to chase after the “Wild Goose”..aka the Holy Spirit and then explores six different “cages” that may be keeping us from our chase.

Cage one: Cage of Responsibility
Cage two: Cage of Routine
Cage Three: Cage of Assumptions
Cage Four: Cage of Guilt
Cage Five: Cage of Failure
Cage six: Cage of Fear

His writing style is very straightforward, while still being insightful. And since my highlighter was so busy while reading…here are some of my favorite passages/quotes.

“I wonder is some of us are living such safe lives that not only are we bored, but so are our guardian angels.” pg 7

“In fact, spiritual maturity has less to do with long-range visions than it does with moment-by-moment sensitivity to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.” pg 58

“We pick and choose the truths we want to accept. We become trapped by our own logic. Our lives are limited to those things we can comprehend with our cerebral cortex. We end up in the cage of our own assumptions. And the more assumptions we made, the smaller our cage becomes.” pg 72

“Faith is not logical. But it isn’t illogical. Faith is theological. It does not ignore reality, it just adds God into the equation.” pg 79

“…our reactions reveal who we really are. And maybe that is why Jesus focused so much of His teaching on reconditioning reflexes. Pray for those who persecute you. Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” pg 99

“I think some of use want to know the will of God more than we want to know God…You can’t do the will of God if you don’t have the heart of God.” pg 137

In short, I think this book could be beneficial to anyone at any stage in their life. At the end Mark encourages us to compile a life-goal list as a way to start playing offense with our lives instead of defense. You can view his life-goal list here. I still haven't compiled mine, but I’m excited to put it together…not sure I’ll be as vulnerable and share it on my blog though-we'll see! There is also material on the website for the book to help you start your own life-goal list which definitely seems worth checking out.

SO…we have a free copy to give away. I decided to hand off the book to the first person to check out his website and download “10 steps to setting life goals”. Leave a comment once you've downloaded the info and let me know! *for purchase confirmation enter "blog tour"* I’d love to hear what goals you decide on…maybe we can exchange ideas.

Mark Batterson: http://markbatterson.com/