Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God

I would highly recommend Mark Batterson's latest book titled, Wild Goose Chase. I was fortunate enough to receive two copies in a special pre-release (I have already given the second copy to my lead pastor in hopes that he might consider going through the book via a series in Spring of next year). You can read more about the book at [...]. The site also includes Mark's "10 Steps to Setting Life Goals." I loved the book enough to already pre-order enough copies for my entire student leadership team.Chapter five, titled "A Rooster's Crow," makes the book a must-read just by itself. Batterson challenges the reader to come out of the cage (anything that keeps us from pursuing our adventure with God) of guilt. Drawing from Pavlov's psychological hypothesis of conditioned reflex, the author proposes that certain situations and sinful decisions have conditioned unnatural and unhealthy reflexes in our lives (sometimes minor idiosyncrasies and at other times serious personality traits). Such reflexes vary in each of us . . . for some it is alcoholism, for others it is a critical spirit (ouch), and still others struggle with their own insecurities. Guilt (whether unconfessed towards God or unforgettable within ourselves) dulls our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and keeps us from living the life that we were designed and destined to experience.One only has to look to the experiences of Peter to discover this truth lived out . . . "Then seizing [Jesus], they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, 'This man was with him.' But he denied it. 'Woman, I don't know him,' he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, 'You also are one of them.' 'Man, I am not!' Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, 'Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.' Peter replied, 'Man, I don't know what you're talking about!' Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: 'Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.' And he went outside and wept bitterly"(Luke 22:54-62, NIV). Peter's betrayal was marked with a rooster crowing. Every time he heard that common sound (nearly every morning, I am sure) he was reminded of the terrible moment when he let his beloved Master down in his greatest hour of need. Batterson reminds us that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion . . . but maybe he is also crowing like a rooster. Isn't that just like the Enemy to remind us of all of our past failures over and over again (even when God has graciously forgiven us)?The chapter goes on to instruct Christ-followers in this . . . maybe God does not only teach us - maybe he spends more time re-teaching us? Maybe he is not always making things new - but making us re-newed? The greatest challenge might just be that he as to re-condition us so that we "re-act" in the image of our Lord and Savior rather than settling for "acting" like someone we are not. How many of us as self-professed disciples of Christ actually pray for those who bully us? Love our enemies? Bless those who curse us? Go the extra mile for those who force us to go the first one? How many of us actually turn our cheek when someone strikes us in the face? Everything natural within us wishes to fight back. Everything supernatural (the re-newing within us) wishes to absorb the rebellion and extend reconciliation. Imagine that, with God at work within us and through us, hatred can actually inspire love. We can actually transform a curse into a blessing. Talk about changing the world.Do we really value loving people when they least expect it and least deserve it? I wrestle with this kingdom principle nearly every day of my life. I have a family member who hurt me in many ways for many years. There are times I am frustrated with their attitudes and actions . . . so much so that I am guilty of sometimes disbelieving that this individual will ever be redeemed. Yet, I know that Jesus has taught that we forgive seven times seventy. I also understand that forgiveness is really the only way that we ever are able to disconnect ourselves from the past. So many of us are trapped by our own bitterness . . . lost in our hurt to the point that we can no longer enjoy life. Where is our adventure? Where is our journey with our Creator? Forgiveness actually liberates us . . . and our hearts end up being re-conditioned in the process. Forgiving someone else helps us receive forgiveness from God.Releasing our offenses towards another is nearly has refreshing as receiving restoration from Christ. The roosters were making Peter feel pretty guilty. He probably thought that his commission as a Christ-follower was null and void. That is probably why he returned to his original vocation of fishing. He had failed too many timed to be re-instated. Failure, all too often, pushed us right back into our old ways. Guilt shrinks our dreams. Grace brings about the opposite result . . . it re-vives our hearts and vision. John 20:15-17 tells the true account of when Jesus searched for Peter . . . not to reprimand him but to re-commission him. The ironic part was that the "ceremony" took place in none other than in the morning (probably right after another rooster crowed). Mark Batterson is a gifted author and pastor . . . but he also is a pretty talented mathematician. He alleges that sin without grace results in guilt while sin plus guilt becomes gratitude. The choice is ours . . . will we drown in our own guilt (past failures and hurts) or will we swim in the re-freshing waters of gratitude and forgiven es? Take some time to read the book and then go out and chase some geese . . . .Official Summary: "Most of us have no idea where we're going most of the time. Perfect. 'Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit - An Geadh-Glas, or the Wild Goose. The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it's like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something . . . . Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure" (from author's introduction).Offical Bio: Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of Washington, DC's National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America's most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC'ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Mark is the author of the best-selling In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a widely read blogger ([...]). He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and their three children.

This book!! Chasing the Holy Spirit in a whole new light. Easy to read and understand. Could have read it one day but made myself read it slowly to absorb the lessons.

Having lived many wasted years most of my life, these perspectives about living defensively versus offensively, really made me understand why I feel so empty in my retired years. This book would have given me the spiritual courage to live my life more fully…would certainly motivate a younger person to take more risks rather than be afraid of living. I was born too early, in my opinion.

What would Christianity look like if believers came out of their cages to passionately chase "The Wild Goose?" Do you ever feel like you are caged by responsibility, routine, assumptions, guilt, failure, or fear? God did not make you to be caged. He made you to be free. And He made you for adventure. Consider that the very word "adventure" cannot even be spelled without "advent," the name given to God coming into the world through the birth of Christ Jesus. Two thousand years ago, Jesus shared amazing adventures with His disciples, and God wants to share adventures with you today. If you will listen carefully and be patient I believe that you will hear an invitation from God to join Him outside your comfort zone in a place of glorious adventure. This is the theme of Pastor Mark Batterson's new book, Wild Goose Chase (Multnomah 2008), which is being released 8/19/2008.It is said that the early Celtic Christians, including St. Patrick, referred to the Holy Spirit as "The Wild Goose." While not all the reasons are known for this comparison, you can certainly see some of the reasons as you think about wild geese. I have observed some of the attributes of Canadian Geese as they stop off briefly in a pasture and lake by my home during their migrations. They are untamable, free, and somewhat unpredictable. A wild goose always seems to be on the move, and as Bill Tenny-Brittian observed, "on a pilgrimage ordained by the Lord Himself." Some might say that living a life of being led by the Spirit is nothing but "a wild goose chase," and to that I say "Amen." From a common-sense standpoint, many of my most memorable spiritual adventures must have seemed to outsiders to be nothing more than a "Wild Goose chase."Pastor Mark says of his own Wild Goose chase, "I am determined to pursue God-ordained passions until the day I die. Life is too precious to settle for anything else. I'm not convinced that your date of death is the date carved on your tombstone. Most people die long before that. We are dying when we have nothing worth living for. And we don't really start living until we find something worth dying for. Ironically, discovering something worth dying for is what makes life worth living." Wild Goose Chase, pp. 16-17 (Multnomah 2008).For those who say that sounds risky, consider this: "Jesus never promised safety or certainty or predictability. And He certainly didn't die on the cross to tame us. He died to make us dangerous. He died to invite us into a life of spiritual adventure. And if you will have the courage to come out of the cage and chase the Wild Goose, life will turn into another day, another adventure!" Id. at p. 171. If you chased the lion into a pit on a snowy day with Pastor Mark in his last book, you will not want to miss Wild Goose Chase which invites you to "reclaim the adventure of pursuing God." I think I used up a whole highlighter on this terrific and compelling read.

I really enjoyed this pastors books,they really helped me grow in the Lord for we did the Bible studies then passed them on to others. After you have done a few author repeats himself Alot. If you have not done a study from this author..I highly recommend doing atleast one study. My first one was " The Circle Marker"!

For those who want to identify and escape the 'cages' and be set free in all God has for them. At what ever stage of life you are at this book is a great help in identifying those cages we have been lured into by the pressures and habits of every day life and work, and those things which hold up back from chasing the Holy Spirit and the call of God on our lives. I was only part way through and felt prompted to buy three more copies - one of each of my sons - the book is that important in my view!

I can strongly recommend this title as a way and means to discover personal prayer refreshment. It could well be used as a text for a Church Course on Prayer and the influence of the Holy Spirit in individual lives.

This book was bought because wild goose publicationsare publishing books that assist with my personal spiritual developmentMany thanks

Had a friend of mine recommend this book, and I am so glad that he did. This was my first Mark Batterson book, and since I read this I have bought over 50 copies to hand out to others. Mark has become one of my favourite authors. I Hope you find this book as refreshment as I did.

It will definitely challenge your status quo way of thinking. I highly recommend it. If you are stuck in a spiritual routine and boredom this book will give you new ways of thinking.