Once again I am a little behind the current book release scene in reading Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson but I did finally get around to reading this book last week.  After a quick tally for 2009 I discovered that this was around book number twenty-five for me this year and out of all the popular (none scholarly) books I have read so far, Wild Goose Chase had to be one of the best. 

Reading Blue Like Jazz and Wild Goose Chase back to back was very interesting and they complimented each other very well, even though they were very different books.

Batterson walks through, in very practical ways, how we go about chasing after the Holy Spirit (as Celtic Christians called Him, An Geadh-Glas, or the Wild Goose), or our lack there-of.  Often we go through life from one routine to the next and our spiritual life becomes, to us, boring.  As Batterson explains, God never meant the Christian life to be mundane and boring.  It is dangerous, bold, exciting, and adventurous… when we learn to depend on Him and follow the Holy Spirit instead of our own selfish ambitions.

As I have mentioned in my blog many times in the past, I have never thought God intended our life to be the pursuit of a good 9-5 job, a nice house with a two-car garage (and two cars to go in the driveway because we can’t get them in the garage), a 401k, and early retirement so we can play golf until we are called home to heaven.  An over exaggeration perhaps, that might be “the American dream”, but I don’t think it is God’s dream for us (or at least not for me).  Batterson brings this home and sums it up like this:

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death

Set God-Sized Goals

Pursue God-ordained passions

Don’t let fear dictate your decisions

Don’t take the easy way out

As I read through each chapter it became aware to me that Batterson has been following me around without me knowing it, and I appreciate him writing a book just for me.  What a great reminder it was to read about living boldly for Christ and not getting stuck into a routine of ineffectiveness.

The book was a quick read, easy to understand, and applies to a great many Believers in the U.S. today.  It was probably written more for the layman or pastor but anyone interested in following the Holy Spirit, wherever it leads, can’t go wrong with Wild Goose Chase.