Skip to main content

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day... (Mark Batterson) "2010 Throwback Blog"

THROWBACK BLOG from 2010…  From my favorite book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson.  

Today is my brother, Tommy's, birthday.  Our conversation brought this memory back to my mind. After thinking about it, I wanted to re-share it with you.  This was a milestone for Deidre and I as we took a huge leap of faith a few years ago.  The result has been one miracle after another, all laced with trials and hurdles along the way, but crowned with God’s mercy and grace.  My hope is that this flashback helps you today to take the step God is calling you to!

I am writing my first ever blog right now. I am sitting at my desk texting my wife, Deidre, and counting the minutes to be able to go home to see my family. I have a wonderful life, some challenges, like everyone else, you know, balancing time, work, ministry, family and the ever present finances. But overall I am blessed more than I deserve.

We are standing at another precipice in life today, a cross roads of sorts. The church is growing to the point that we need someone to be dedicated to it, but I am not in a position to be able to leave my job in Little Rock, so we decided it was time for Deidre to take the plunge.

That brought, as you might guess, some trepidation and fear with it. Leaving the comfort zone of a job to launch out into a dream. I was reading an awesome book today, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, good book. It is based on II Samuel 23:23. It simply says that one of David's mighty men chased a lion into a pit and killed it. Two verses later, he becomes the head of David's security, the chief bodyguard.

It is time for us to become a generation of lion chasers. To stop settling for what is and start chasing what can be. Yea you might get scratched up a little, but in the end you cannot win if you do not at least try.


So for my first blog, two things, if you can dream it, try it! And read the book it rocks!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leadership Lessons from Crepe Myrtles

Last spring I cut the side of my face, right my left ear.  After the bleeding stopped I learned a great lesson about life, leadership, and relationships.  Along the front of our church we had a beautiful life of crepe myrtles.    They looked breathtaking: bright red, full of blooms and just a year old.  They had grown at a very rapid pace, partly because we had an unusually mild winter, partly because the temperature has been quite comfortable for them, but mostly because we have had a lot of rain extending late into the summer.   For those who are not familiar with Arkansas weather patterns, we usually have a lot of spring storms, bringing with them massive rains. Flash-floods - you know, National Weather Service alarms on your phone, kind of rains.  This usually happens from around April until the middle of June.  Then something crazy happens - the rain stops.  I mean, turn the spigo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rise or Resist?

Growing up, I spent a lot of time around the ocean. I was born and raised on Chincoteague, VA, a small island just south of the Maryland line, on the Eastern Shore of VA. There I learned many of the basics of water safety, how to handle a boat, and probably the most important information of all, how to negotiate a big wave! When I was a freshman in high school my parents moved us to South Florida, again near the beach. There I learned and honed my skill of avoiding being thrown about like a beach ball by the powerful force of the ocean. "The Key?" you ask... well that is a great question, and I am glad you brought it up, because I am very anxious to tell you. For some this key will be very intuitive, for others it will be life changing. But before I tell you this key, I need you to understand it is very, very powerful. This key, which I am going to share with you in just a moment, holds power, not just in the ocean, but in life. OK, here goes, the key is... very importan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Something Stinks

In   John 11  there is a story about a man named Lazarus. He was a man that was a dear friend of Jesus, but one day he died. Jesus, hearing that he died, stalled. He took a few days just hanging out, knowing that his friend was dead. I have some personal issues with this text, but this is not about my need for therapy, there is a very important point buried in here that God wants you to get. Verse 15 - Jesus says “I am glad I was not there when he died, so that you can believe.”  There are some things in our lives that have died. Important things, things that meant a lot to us. Our dreams, our passions, our direction. These things have died on purpose. I need to say that again. God has ALLOWED some things to die in our lives, so that we may believe. We all have things that have died, we have buried them, walked away and stopped allowing ourselves to think what might have been. But then out of nowhere Jesus shows up and says that thing is not dead, it's just aslee...
Post a Comment
Read more