Running with the Giants – A Book Review

Running with the Giants is a small but mighty book authored by John C. Maxwell.  Its subtitle, “What Old Testament Heroes Want You to Know about Life and Leadership” summarizes this book in a nutshell.  In each of the ten short chapters, an Old Testament leader and hero of the faith shares a key lesson they learned in their life.  These words of wisdom are meant to encourage and empower the reader as they run their own race.  Noah, Esther, Joseph, Moses, Rebekah, Abraham, Nehemiah, the servant girl, David and Jonathan each share their life lesson in an intimate first person, conversational format.

The author begins each chapter with a little biblical/biographical background on the character and how God was working in his or her life.  From there, the character “speaks” to us, sharing a life lesson from their perspective, ending with some specific encouragement and application to the reader.  The character then shares his prayer for us.  Each chapter ends with a discussion guide that asks the reader to consider how the character may have seen certain events in his or her life, as well as personal reflection questions which make the lesson(s) applicable to the reader.

I highly recommend this small book, as it considers such significant leadership issues as when life isn’t turning out as you had planned, when you are fearful or reluctant, when problems overwhelm you, and when you think your efforts are insignificant, to name just a few.