Jul

16

Chase the Lion

July 16, 2008 |

Chase the LionThis week we said goodbye to an old friend. No, not a member of our group, but rather our most recent study guide. For the past several months, we’ve done Chase the Lion: Stepping Confidently into the Unknown by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.
This was a risky study for our transitional and mostly empty nest group. It’s written by one of the nation’s best-known pastors to Gen Xers in the early stages of their careers. But being the adventurous sort, we decided to try to adapt it to our life stage. And it worked amazingly well. Every week someone commented on how strategic the questions were for what we are dealing with.

In a Pit
The study guide is taken from Battersons outstanding book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day, which IMHO is one of the best books I read in 2007. Both the book and the study guide hinge on an obscure passage in 2 Samuel 23:20-23, which says, “Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab’s best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty men. He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.” Not the usual stuff of Bible studies.

In both the book and companion study, Batterson develops the theme of surviving and thriving when opportunity roars. Admittedly, he takes some liberties with the passage, as have other authors who’ve built their reputations on an isolated verse or two. While Batterson uses Benaiah’s exploits as a sign of daring faith, our group questioned whether chasing a lion into a pit on a snowy day is really a sign of godly boldness—or perhaps a sign of brazen presumption. Nevertheless, the story serves as an example and encouragement to take risks we’ve never dared before.

When we started the study, most of us felt that it was long on application and light on Scripture. However, as we progressed, we were increasingly impressed that the few verses cited in each chapter were strategic. In fact, each lesson yielded so much good discussion that we took two weeks for each chapter and still ran out of time. Of course, we’re a pretty windy group.

The study invigorated us to face and chase the lions God has allowed in our lives. We may be seniors, but we’re still facing new challenges. Some bigger than we’ve faced in the past. Each of us came away more willing to go eyeball to eyeball with our lions and take new territory.

The only downside of the study is that it’s published by Lifeway, which means it isn’t available on Amazon.com and isn’t carried by many non-Lifeway bookstores. We had to chase down the study guide and order directly from Lifeway, which was a nuisance. In addition to the member guides, there is a leader kit with videos, music, and leader materials. We didn’t need these, but they look useful for the more inexperienced leader. In a Pit is available through Amazon.


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