For the love of Pete what took me so long to finally finish this book? It’s a light book, simple enough concepts, but has taken me a lifetime to finish. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is the second book by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. While I absolutely despise the title (was there no editor on this project?), the book was okay.

So I’m probably not the Bible scholar you are and so I had absolutely no idea from the title alone what passage this came from. But since you are far more advanced than I at Bible trivia I probably don’t need to tell you it comes from 2 Samuel 23.20-21. Once I discovered where the title came from I grew worried it was going to be another Jabez, no offense Mr. Wilkinson. Fortunately for me it wasn’t.

The book is basically about seizing divine opportunities and doing big things for God. The hope is that we’d see that in our greatest fear, worry, or difficulty might be God’s great dream for our lives (something like that). There were a lot of good stories in the book, quite motivating at times. And there were many pithy one-liners that helped to encapsulate the point.

Was this the most important book I’ve ever read? Nah. But it was a lot better than being stuck in a pit with a lion on a snowy day. If you’re unfamiliar with Batterson you should check out what’s happening in DC. They are doing some creative and innovative things in ministry and this book really forms the backdrop for the adventurous risks they’re taking.