In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars

by Mark Batterson

But we love positive uncertainties—the good things that happen that we didn’t expect.

You can’t have it both ways.

the greatest moments in life are unscripted. They are unrehearsed and unplanned and unpredictable, and that is precisely what makes them unforgettable.

Expect the unexpected.

More than half the time, Jesus says and does the opposite of what the disciples expect.

Do we really believe that God is ordering every footstep even when it feels like we’ve taken a misstep? Do we really believe that God is sovereign when nothing seems to be going our way? Do we really believe that God is good even when bad things happen to us?

God is in the business of using those experiences to prepare us for future opportunities.

Lion chasers are humble enough to let God call the shots and brave enough to follow where He leads.

Good is often the enemy of great.

Their fear of missing out is greater than their fear of messing up.

Obedience is a willingness to do whatever, whenever, wherever God calls us.

You can’t remove risk from the equation.

Maybe righteousness has less to do with not doing anything wrong and more to do with doing things right.

Maybe our view of sanctification is too sanitized. Maybe our view of Christianity is too civilized.

The only regrets we’ll have at the end of our lives will be that we didn’t seek God more or seek God sooner.

There is no such thing as risk-free faith. And you can’t experience success without risking failure.

there are two kinds of people in the world: creators and criticizers.

All of us have action regrets, but I think our deepest regrets are missed opportunities.

Action regrets taste bad, but inaction regrets leave a bitter aftertaste that lasts a lifetime.

over the long haul, we tend to regret inactions.

when people look at their lives as a whole, inaction regrets outnumber action regrets 84 percent to 16 percent.2

We need to stop criticizing culture and start creating it.

Instead of complaining about the current state of affairs, we need to offer better alternatives.

God is in the business of making sure we cross paths with the right people at the right time.

There is certainly a time to be prudent. But there is also a time to be valiant.

Think of every opportunity as a gift from God. What you do with that opportunity is your gift to God.

One of our greatest spiritual shortcomings is low expectations. We don’t expect much from God because we aren’t asking for much.

Low expectations are the byproduct of prayerlessness, but prayer has a way of God-sizing our expectations.

There are only two ways to live your life: survival mode or prayer mode.

Prayer helps us catch the opportunities God throws our way.

Living in prayer mode is the difference between seeing coincidences and providences.

Prayer is an opportunity incubator. When I’m not in prayer mode, I have good ideas. But when I’m in prayer mode I have God ideas.

We mistakenly think of righteousness as doing nothing wrong when, in fact, righteousness is doing something right.

Righteousness isn’t just running away from sin. Righteousness is chasing lions.

faith is the willingness to look foolish.

We are called to conform to Christ. And Christ was a nonconformist. So conforming to Christ results in nonconformity.

Too many people in too many churches look too much alike.

I’m afraid our version of Christlikeness is way too civilized and sanitized. I wonder if we’ve turned a blind eye to the zaniness in the Gospels.

Conversion kick-starts two sanctification processes: Christ-likeness and childlikeness. Spiritual maturity is becoming more like Christ and more like a little child.

When you get excited about God, don’t expect everybody to get excited about your excitement.

When the Holy Spirit turns up the heat underneath you it disrupts the status quo. Some people will be inspired by what God is doing in your life. Others will be convicted. And they will mask their personal conviction by finding something to criticize.

Part of spiritual maturity is caring less and less about what people think about you and more and more about what God thinks about you. Part of taking God more seriously is taking yourself less seriously.

Christ followers ought to be the most passionate people on the planet. To be like Jesus is to be consumed with passion.

Lion chasers aren’t afraid of conflict. They aren’t afraid of risking their reputation by chasing snakes out of the temple.

We need something to chase.