Book Review: In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day

In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day
By: Mark Batterson
Sister’s, Oregon: Multnomah, 2006.

My interest in this book was generated because of my proximity to the author. Mark is a Pastor of an A/G church in Washington, D.C. They have a fantastic story that is available at their website, www.theaterchurch.com. Mark’s daily blog, www.evotional.com , has been a great inspiration to me. The reason I blog is because he recommended it to me in a personal interview I did with him in 2005. In that same interview, he was excited that a publisher had contacted him about writing a book. He was thrilled, and In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day was the book that followed.

These thoughts that I share are just my thoughts. I’m no critic, so please be careful on basing your reading judgments on my interpretation. I want to make one more statement about how I came to read the book. Mark put out an invitation to a district official that he would like to give a free copy of the book to church planters. So I contacted him, and had his book a week later.

I don’t like the cover. Blunt I know, but I thought it made the book look especially cheesy. In fact, if I were just picking the book up and deciding to buy it, there is nothing attractive about the presentation. The cover, quality, and margins of the book drove me crazy. I know that’s anal, but I’m a guy who actually reads everything on and between the covers. Why do I start out bashing this way? Because if you were in a store and looked at it, I would hope you’d buy it anyway. The content is very good, just get past the presentation.

Overall this is a book about looking for opportunities and making them victories no matter how unlikely. Every lesson in the book is loosely hung on a story from 2 Samuel 23:20-21. The obscure story is of Beniah who had three amazing exploits on his resume’ and went on to become Commander-in-chief of Israel’s army at the time of David’s kingship.

The chapters are laid out to lead you from understanding the lions (opportunities) that face our lives to becoming a lion chaser ourselves. Whether it’s unlearning our fears, or wrestling with risk each of the chapters invites us one step closer to embracing the impossible only making it improbable, and realizing that it is a God ordained moment that we need to pursue. I think Mark would say that the summation of this book is that at the end of our lives the greatest regrets will center on what we didn’t do, what lions we didn’t chase, far more than the ones we did. So maximizing the message of In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day would lead to less regrets and greater accomplishment for God.

The chapters are filled with stories from mission’s trip experiences. My favorite came in the story of a monkey that pooped on a girl’s head that was terrified to come to Africa because of Lions. She never accounted for the monkeys.

This book is a very enjoyable read. It’s also a quick read. I finished it in about 5 days of moderate reading.

Someone requested that we pursue the Chase the Lion Series this year at SRC. The Operations Team will be discussing it as a possibility on our preaching calendar.

--Ben