In a pit with a lion on a snowy day

I just started reading the book "In A Pit With a Lion On A Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson. And I have to say that thus far I am loving it. It talks about trusting God to do the impossible. (Which totally speaks to me. I love a challenge and I love the stories of God (and the stories in my own life) of God doing the IMPOSSIBLE. They are amazing and they remind me of who God is, of His power, His mighty, His awesomeness.) It also speaks to me because this year has definitely been full of more challenges than normal and obstacles / challenges that sometimes can seem insurmountable. So, it's good to be reminded of what is true of God and of us as his children. Yes, it may seem foolish or crazy, but our God is in the habit of doing the impossible and he does delight in us stepping out in faith, trusting him alone to hold us. So...since I can't just type the whole first couple chapters for you, I figured I'd at least put some of the passages of Scripture he sights and some quotes.

"You are responsible forever for what you have tamed." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"There was also Benaiah son of Johoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab's mightiest warriors. Another time he chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with it... And David put [Benaiah] in charge of his bodyguard." - 2 Samuel 23:20, 21, 23

"How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your small cosmos." G.K. Chesterton

Judges 6-7 (which by the way is one of my favorite passages in Scripture) -- here below is just Judges 7:2-23

"The LORD said to Gideon, 'The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.' ' Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.

And the LORD said to Gideon, 'The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' shall not go.' So he brought the people down to the water. ANd the LORD said to Gideon, 'Everyone who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink.' And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the LORD said to Gideon, 'With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.' So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. ANd he send all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

That same night the LORD said to him, 'Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.' Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, 'Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so the tent lay flat.' And the comrade answered, 'This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.

As soon as Gideon hear the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, 'Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.' And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, 'Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, 'For the LORD and for Gideon.'

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. THen the tree companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, 'A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!' Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian."

" 'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,' declares the LORD. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.' " Isaiah 55:8

"Your best thought about God on your best day falls 12.3 billion light-years short of how great and how good God really is. We underestimate God's goodness and greatness by at least 12.3 billion light-years ["as high as the heavens are above the earth"]... Maybe it's time to stop placing four-dimensional limits on God. Maybe it's time to stop putting God in a box the size of your cerebral cortex. Maybe it's time to stop creating God in your image and let Him create you in His. The more we grow, the bigger God should get. And the bigger God gets, the smaller our lions become." Mark Batterson (p. 28, 29)

"Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, 'See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.' And he answered, 'Go.' Then one of them said, 'Be pleased to go with your servants.' And he answered, 'I will go.' So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water and he cried out, 'Alas, my master! It was borrowed.' Then the man of God said, 'Where did it fall?' When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, 'Take it up.' So he reached out his hand and took it." - 2 Kings 6:1-7

(Note: pay attention to the axe. It is not a normal thing that iron would float!)

"Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.' So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten." - John 6:7, 11-13

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10