God is in the résumé-building business. He is always using past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities. But those God-given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions. And how we react when we encounter those lions will determine our destiny. We can cower in fear and run away from our greatest challenges. Or we can chase our God-ordained destiny by seizing the God-ordained opportunity.

Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Those who simply run away from sin are half-Christians. Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what’s wrong. We’re called to chase lions.

Those are two powerful excerpts from Mark Batterson’s new book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. I had the privilege to read the first chapter recently, and the book has a lot of potential. Mark is the pastor of National Community Church (Washington, DC), and his book discusses how to stop running away from what scares you and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path. Check it out and enjoy the read.