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Christian Basics Bible Studies
Excellence: Run with the Horses
Life is difficult. Daily you must choose whether to live cautiously or courageously. God calls you to live at your best, to pursue righteousness, to drive toward excellence. Six studies, drawn from Eugene Peterson's much-loved Run with the Horses, will help you discover God's goals and equip you to achieve them.
- GenresChristianity
64 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 1996
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93 people want to read
About the author
Eugene H. Peterson
432 books1,007 followersEugene H. Peterson was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. For many years he was James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. He had written over thirty books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language a contemporary translation of the Bible. After retiring from full-time teaching, Eugene and his wife Jan lived in the Big Sky Country of rural Montana. He died in October 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 15, 2014
This was a commentary of the book of Jeremiah by Peterson, one of my current favorite Christian writers. In the 60 years that Jeremiah lived he was always pushing for excellence and 'vigorous in battle.'
"The task of a prophet is not to smooth things over but to make things right." "Crowds lie. The more people, the less truth." The book was an easy read on a difficult subject. Jeremiah was a wonderful example of someone who just did the next thing.
The book included what may be my favorite quote of the decade and certainly explain my love not of baseball but of detective stories where the good guy wins, and there is no question of who the good guy is: "Every once in a while when I get tired of living by faith, I drive 25 miles southwest to Memorial Stadium in Baltimroe and watch the Orioles play baseball. For a couple of hours I am in a world that is defined by exactly measured lines and precise, geometric patterns. Every motion on the playing field is graceful and poised. Sloppy behavior is not tolerated. Complex physical feats are carried out with immense skill. Errors are instantly detected and their consequences immediately experienced. Rule infractions are punished directly. Unruly conduct is banished. The person who refuses to play by the rules is ejected. Outstanding performance is recognized and applauded on the spot. While the game is being played, people of widely divergent temperments, moral values, religious commitments and cultural backgrounds agree on a goal and the means for pursuing it. When the game is over, everyone knows who won and who lost. It is a world from which all uncertainty is banished, a world in which everything is clear and obvious. Afterward the entire experience is summarized in the starkly unambiguous vocabulary of numbers, exact to the third decimal point.
"The world to which I return when the game is over contains all the elements that were visible in the stadium--elegance and sloppiness, grace and unruleness victory and defeat, diversity and unity, reward and punishment, boundary and risk, indolence and excellence--but with a significant difference: instead of being sharply distinguished they are hopelessly muddled. What is going on at any particular time is almost never exactly clear. None of the lines are precise. The boundaries are not clear. Goals are not agreed upon. Means are in constant dispute. When I leave the world of brightly lit geometric patterns, I pick my way through inkblots, trying to discern the significance of the shapes with all the help from Rorchach that I can get. My digital wristwatch for all its technological accuracy, never tells me whether I am at the beginning or in the middle or near the end of an experience. At the end of the day -- or the week, or the years -- there is no agreement on who has won and who has lost."
"The task of a prophet is not to smooth things over but to make things right." "Crowds lie. The more people, the less truth." The book was an easy read on a difficult subject. Jeremiah was a wonderful example of someone who just did the next thing.
The book included what may be my favorite quote of the decade and certainly explain my love not of baseball but of detective stories where the good guy wins, and there is no question of who the good guy is: "Every once in a while when I get tired of living by faith, I drive 25 miles southwest to Memorial Stadium in Baltimroe and watch the Orioles play baseball. For a couple of hours I am in a world that is defined by exactly measured lines and precise, geometric patterns. Every motion on the playing field is graceful and poised. Sloppy behavior is not tolerated. Complex physical feats are carried out with immense skill. Errors are instantly detected and their consequences immediately experienced. Rule infractions are punished directly. Unruly conduct is banished. The person who refuses to play by the rules is ejected. Outstanding performance is recognized and applauded on the spot. While the game is being played, people of widely divergent temperments, moral values, religious commitments and cultural backgrounds agree on a goal and the means for pursuing it. When the game is over, everyone knows who won and who lost. It is a world from which all uncertainty is banished, a world in which everything is clear and obvious. Afterward the entire experience is summarized in the starkly unambiguous vocabulary of numbers, exact to the third decimal point.
"The world to which I return when the game is over contains all the elements that were visible in the stadium--elegance and sloppiness, grace and unruleness victory and defeat, diversity and unity, reward and punishment, boundary and risk, indolence and excellence--but with a significant difference: instead of being sharply distinguished they are hopelessly muddled. What is going on at any particular time is almost never exactly clear. None of the lines are precise. The boundaries are not clear. Goals are not agreed upon. Means are in constant dispute. When I leave the world of brightly lit geometric patterns, I pick my way through inkblots, trying to discern the significance of the shapes with all the help from Rorchach that I can get. My digital wristwatch for all its technological accuracy, never tells me whether I am at the beginning or in the middle or near the end of an experience. At the end of the day -- or the week, or the years -- there is no agreement on who has won and who has lost."
December 13, 2017
An okay book. Peterson had some strong opinions about the text but didn't always cover why he held those opinions.
February 19, 2019
Certainly whet my appetite to delve deeper into Jeremiah in the near future!
March 19, 2014
Great book for living outside the rut and embracing change
April 3, 2014
Inspirational! Classic Eugene Peterson.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews