JUGAR A GANAR / PLAY TO WIN

ESPAÑOL

Según Mark Batterson hay dos formas de jugar un juego: La primera es jugar a perder, jugar a lo seguro, a defenderse, a evitar que el otro equipo gane defendiéndose hasta de lo que el equipo contrario no está haciendo. La segunda forma de jugar un juego, en cambio, es jugar a ganar, siempre atentos, buscando la oportunidad para sobrepasar al otro equipo, siempre arriesgándolo todo por la victoria, siempre hacia delante. De esto se trata el libro En un foso, con un león y en un día de nieve. Del riesgo que representa el destino.

A partir de la historia bíblica de Benaía (quien, en un día de nieve se interna en un foso y mata a un león con sus propias manos), el escritor desenvuelve página a página lo que significa cazar la gloria para la que fuimos creados y que está disfrazada como si fuera nuestra peor pesadilla mientras ruge furiosa para amedrentarnos y hacernos huir. Pero la verdad es que los cazadores de leones escogen el riesgo, hacen lo que los humanos normales no hacen: persiguen al león. Algo en ellos funciona de otra forma, quizá al revés, y donde cualquier persona en su sano juicio ve problemas, ellos ven oportunidades. Y lo más emocionante es que todos llevamos dentro a un cazador de leones.

Es hora de perseguir el destino en lugar de huir de él. Es hora de dejar de temer que nuestra vida se acabe y comenzar a temer que nunca empiece. Es hora de dejarse llevar por el entusiasmo que le dio origen a la palabra entusiasmo. Es hora de arriesgarse y desafiar las probabilidades. Es hora de dar el primer paso en dirección a esa oportunidad que bien podría explotarte en la cara. Es hora de jugar a ganar y dejar de jugar a no perder. Es hora de buscar el gol. Es hora de volver a palpitar con el corazón indomable que Dios nos dio cuando nos creó para cazar la gloria.

Y leer este libro sería un buen primer paso.

ENGLISH

According to Mark Batterson there are two ways to play a game: The first one is play not to loose, play it safe and don’t let the other team win just by defending every imaginable point, but the second way you can play a game is play to win, always alert, looking for the opportunity to outrun the other team, always risking it all in order to get victory, always stepping forward. That’s what this book, In a pit with a lion on a snowy day, is about. The risk of destiny.

From the center of the biblical story of Benaiah (whom, on a snowy day, gets into a pit and kills a lion with his hands), the writer unfolds page by page the meaning of hunting the glory that we were made for and that, too often, is disguised as our worst nightmare, roaring angry just to scare us and make us flee. But the truth is that lion chasers choose risk and make what a normal human wouldn’t: They chaise the lion. Something in them is wired differently, maybe backwards, and where any common sense person sees trouble, they see opportunity. And the exciting thing is that we all have a lion chaser inside of us.

It’s time to chaise our destiny instead of running from it. It’s time to not fear that our life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning. It’s time to let go with the enthusiasm that gave birth to the word enthusiasm. It’s time to risk it all and defy the odds. It’s time to take the first step towards that chance that could blow up in your face. It’s time to play to win and stop playing not to loose. It’s time to look for the score. It’s time to beat again with the untamed heart that God gave us when he made us to chase glory.

And read this book would be a great first step.

THE NOTICER by Andy Andrews

Have you ever been in a situation in life that makes you wish to run and live on the top of a mountain for the rest of your days? Have you ever felt so lack of purpose that you really start to believe you were an accident? Have you ever been in need of someone explaining you why is it that life is so complicated? Well, all you need is a different perspective. A different point of view.

This book, I promise, will be a mirror for anyone who reads it. It's funny but, at the same time, so deep than you can't let it go unfinished.

At first, I thought that it would be a little doll but after a few pages it proved me wrong.

If I have to summarize what the book let me for my life, I would say that it opened my eyes to this simple truth: All I need, when the bottom drops off, is a little perspective.

I can tell you right now that when life seems uglier than death, it's because we're focusing on the wall, instead of the opportunity of build a door. And really, it all comes down to that. We see failure where we should see learning. We see pain where we should see growth. We see bad things where we should see opportunities for good. We see absence where we should see Presence.

I've found in The Noticer a great inspiring book with one huge risk: You may want to notice some things in your own life. And that, my friend, is a wonderful risk! Read it, enjoy it, notice it!.