Welcome to the Wild Goose Chase! (By Mark Batterson)
When I first saw this book it caught my attention because it
reminded me of something that I used to do every year at work when I worked at
the golf course. We would literally chase geese, wild geese. It wouldn’t be just
for fun, but it was part of a tag and relocate program with the DNR. Every year
it was such an adventure. We would always build a fenced in area, or the pen,
the day before. It would have been nice
to go to the pen the next morning at sunrise and find that the geese had
co-operated and were waiting for us in the pen. But they never happened. We had
to chase them into the pen. Sometimes we had to chase them from the other side
of the golf course. The whole day wasn’t about doing regular work. The whole
day was about chasing the geese. Chase them we did, with reckless abandon I
might add. (P.S. We would do this during a time of year that geese do not fly.)
So after seeing this title I found myself wondering if my
experience of chasing actual wild geese would be anything like what Mark
Batterson was writing about. So far in the first chapter the answer is yes and
no. If you have ever chased a goose you will know that they do not run in a
straight line and can turn on a dime! Sometimes it seems that they travel in a
pointless direction. Chasing God (the Holy Spirit) is somewhat similar. He
never runs in a straight line does He? Sometimes keeping up with Him can be
difficult and we often find ourselves wondering if He even knows where He is
going. But if we follow Him through every twist and turn, trusting in His
seemingly wanderings, we will find that He has lead us on just the right path.
Unlike my goose experience of trying to pen the geese,
chasing God is different. We often don’t see it differently though. We usually
find ourselves wondering where He is taking us? I am sure that we all have
thought “What is His purpose for me? What is the destination that He has in
mind for me?” Here is where we often
lose sight of our Wild Goose. We look too far ahead of Him. We try to figure
out where He is going and how He is going to get there. The real trick here is
to focus on each step of the Goose, not His destination! If we follow Him
closely, where ever He takes us we will find that each day we are at the
destination that He wants us to be, chasing Him. It’s a moment by moment, step
by step chase. It’s about a journey and an adventure. Not about a destination.
Are you ready to chase with reckless abandon? If we choose
to chase with a passionate pursuit we will find that the adventure is never
boring, but sometimes a little dangerous.
So let’s go Chase a Goose together! Honk Honk!
