Mark Batterson has written some books that have absolutely connected with me. He recently released his latest, The Circle Maker. When he offered to send me one for free (he posted the offer on his blog–it’s not like Batterson is sending me personal email!) I jumped at the chance. His writing has influenced me, and his style connects with me.
A few days later the kindly mailman dropped off a package for me. I was expecting a mass-market paperback. Instead, Batterson sent out a hard back copy of his book.
I haven’t started it yet, but I will tomorrow. The big idea of the book (from the back cover) is learning to pray in a new way by drawing circles around your dreams, your family, your problems, and, most importantly, God’s promises.
I’ve got a family, some problems, and a book that tells me God’s promises. The thing that I’m lacking is a dream. To be honest, that’s a little unsettling. For most of my life I wanted to be a youth pastor. I went to school to learn how to do that, got a degree in youth ministry, and spent 20 years living that dream.
Now I’m not.
I’ve been encountering this “dream” talk in lots of places. Seth Barnes writes about the dream life with regularity. He even posted an ebook about it. I’ve heard Dan Nold (my pastor) talk about it recently, most recently at Leadership Advance. Now Batterson is helping me “pray circles around your biggest dreams and greatest fears.”
I’m excited, because I’ve been frustrated with myself lately. It’s not that I don’t have plenty on my plate to keep me busy. And make no mistake about it–my life is GOOD! I have a wonderful (and beautiful) wife, incredible children, a great church, solid friends…But there’s a huge difference between being busy and being fully alive. I believe that we need a God-given dream in our hearts, a calling to pursue, a cause to champion…I know that I need to hear from God about his dream for me.
I’ll let you know how the book resonates with me, and (hopefully) I’ll have something to tell you about what God says to me about my dream.
2 Comments
Anonymous · January 12, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Stacy,
I am on chapter 5 of this book. I like you have a wonderful husband, what I thought was a good life, until things happened. All of it went down the tubes and there I sat with God in one corner and me in the other–feeling alone, despondent, and no hopes of dreams or prayers answered. This book has absloutely rocked my existence. I opened a Bible 2 days ago that has been closed for 4 years, I went out and bought a journal and I have begun my circle. I higly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who feels like God isn’t in their corner. He is…we just have to know how to communicate and believe.
stacy · January 12, 2012 at 11:28 pm
Good words, thanks for sharing a little of your story and the hope that we have in Jesus!