UNSTOPPABLE: Running the Race your were born to win_Book Review

Wow.  I have been encouraged, motivated, inspired to stay the course and to keep running to win the prize to which God has called me heavenward. 

Christine Caine uses the analogy of the Olympic Athletic Competition she loves and that of the Baton Race.  Each runner must run his/her best and must be ready in the exchange zone.  She compares this race to the divine race of the Kingdom of God.

  

This divine relay is filled with exchange zones.  If the baton of faith passes fluidly form person to person, from generation to generation, we speed unstoppable toward the finish line.  But if the exchange is fumbled, the whole team, the whole church, suffers.  

Christ followers have each been given gifts, assignments, places and positions in life.  Understanding our calling and that we are uniquely gifted for the trials, circumstances and tests of life that we will face, will help us to see that life is not about us, but about the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission.

We must Love our Neighbor as our selves and to spread the Gospel of the Good News to a lost world that lives even next door. 

 The church needs champion runners who never give up, who persevere no matter what they encounter, who run to win un-stoppable, no matter the cost.

I appreciate the way Christine discusses many issues in the Church today, but one of the encouragements that she gives has to do with those individuals who feel they are too broken, have failed, have not measured up in some way. 

Retelling the story of the little boy who gave all he had one day to Jesus Disciples, who had not even bothered to notice him or to count him in the first place, Jesus offered up thanks for the little boys gift and then he broke the bread and fish and then fed five thousand plus who had gathered to hear the word of God that day.

You’ve heard the saying “Little is much when God is in it.”  Yes. Well, that sounds all sweet and church-y.  Christine has another way of saying it: 

WHEN OUR BROKEN PIECES ARE OFFERED TO GOD, HE MULTIPLIES THEM FOR HIS PURPOSES.

Yep.  That’s a different perspective.  After all, who of us is not broken? Who hasn’t been broken or felt invisible, uncounted, unqualified, uneducated, un_______-whatever it is that causes you a “less than” mentality when you compare yourself to recognized and celebrity-style Christian leaders.  The miracle is in the breaking.  And just like with the lunch that day on the mountain, He wastes nothing!

Christine points out that we are all called to not only take our place, but to embrace the place that our calling finds us.  We are all important in the body of Christ.  We are all motivated by our love for Jesus Christ who is our prize.  She does not hide the fact that the enemy will come to us with challenges to distract, distort the truth and to discourage us.  Nevertheless, step up to the faith challenge and do your part because you matter.

At the beginning of our race, we seldom grasp God’s grand plan and how interwoven, far-reaching and transformational it is. We run. Reach. Receive. Release. Repeat.  We embrace our place.The Winners’ Cup is SACRIFICIAL LOVE.

*I purchased this book through amazon.com.  I have not been asked nor have I been endorsed to provide a book review.  The review is my opinion.