Chasing Lions (My First Book Review)

*This is my first ever book review. I have no idea how it should be done. I pray that this review makes you want to click the book title and buy up a copy on Amazon!

I've read a lot of books. I've read a lot of good authors. People like C.S. Lewis, Max Lucado, and John Piper. I have one more author to add to my list-Mark Batterson. Mark is the Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., a church that is innovative even down to its multiple locations it meets at. The book Pastor Mark has recently written, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, is as unique a book as its somewhat odd title would lead you to believe. Taking an obscure story from 2 Samuel 23 about one of David's mighty men, who dared to chase down a lion and kill it in a pit all while in the snow, he begins to encourage us that there is a lion-chaser somewhere in all of us.

Now, chasing a lion is crazy. The first reaction to seeing a lion in its territory is one of flight. But Mark's point: a lion-chaser is a different kind of person. It's the person who realizes that life's biggest problems are all too often hidden opportunities from God.

Citing personal times of lion-chasing, and the experiences of friends and church members, Pastor Mark skillfully lights a fire that makes you want to take a risk for God, and his purposes. He encourages us to find our natural weirdness. To think outside the box.

This book is for preacher and parishioner alike. Everyone has a calling. Everyone Christian is a minister. And, in the end, the things you'll most regret in life are the lions you never chased, the chances you never took, the opportunities you passed up on.

So what are you waiting for? Chase that lion!