Wild Goose Chase

Last night, I finished reading Wild Goose Chase from Mark Batterson. It's a really good book, pushing readers to break out of the cages that keep us from being led by the Holy Spirit. I like Batterson's writing and found myself agreeing with his assessment of boredom in the church. Christians have been safe (but bored) in their cages for way too long, and I don't want to be a part of keeping them there.

I talk with a lot of young adults, especially, who seem to drift away from the church, not because they don't believe in God, or want to explore other world views, or even because they want to be 'free' to live however they please... they're drifting because they're bored. Their faith is covered in bubble wrap - safe and secure, but suffocating.

The six specific cages that Batterson lists are: responsibility, routine, assumptions, guilt, failure, and fear. Of these, I'd say that I've struggled with the cage of routine most lately. Early in ministry, everything was an adventure. We'd left behind friends and family, moved to a place where we didn't know anyone, and chased the Wild Goose to the greatest place in which I could have started ministry. Lately, my ministry has taken on a much less adventurous demeanor and become much more routine. It's been driving me nuts, but this book helped me see a little more clearly what's going on. My routine still needs to be shaken up. (The difficulty is when you're leading a ministry and you shake up your routine, it also shakes up the routine of others. Pray for this to happen in a healthy way.)

One section of the book that really struck me was when he wrote about life goals. A lot of people don't accomplish much in life because they've never decided what they want to accomplish. I've had some vague notions of what I want to accomplish, but I think I need to be more specific about some of my goals. One of those is writing. I like to write, and I've had a number of people respond positively to things I've written (yes, all three of you who read this blog and several others). But I don't think I've put that passion to its' fullest use yet. I want to write stuff that will strengthen the church beyond the borders of my circle of fellowship. I want to write books. I have no contacts in the publishing world or anything like that, so I'm not sure how to get it done, but one of my goals right now is to find out and do it.

Chase the Goose!