Run with the Horses

In Jeremiah 12:5 God says to the prophet, "If you're worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses?" We all long to live life at its best—to fuse freedom and spontaneity with purpose and meaning. Why then do we often find our lives so humdrum, so unadventuresome, so routine? Or else so frantic, full of activity, but still devoid of fulfillment? How do we learn to risk, to trust, to pursue wholeness and excellence—to run with the horses instead of shuffling along with the crowd? In a series of profound reflections on the life of Jeremiah the prophet, Eugene Peterson explores the heart of what it means to be fully and genuinely human. In his signature pastoral style, he invites readers to grasp the biblical truth that each person's story of faith is completely original. Peterson's writing is filled with humor and self-reflection, insight and wisdom, helping to set a course for others in the quest for life at its best. This special commemorative edition includes a new preface taken from Eric Peterson's homily at his father's memorial service.



Eugene H. Peterson (1932–2018) was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. He wrote more than thirty books, including his widely acclaimed paraphrase of the Bible, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, his memoir, The Pastor, and the bestselling spiritual formation classic A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Peterson was founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland, where he served for twenty-nine years before retiring in 1991. With degrees from Seattle Pacific, New York Theological Seminary, and Johns Hopkins University, he served as professor of spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, until retiring in Lakeside, Montana, in 2006.

Commemorative Preface by Eric E. Peterson


Preface to the Second Edition


1. What Makes You Think You Can Race Against Horses?


2. Jeremiah


3. Before


4. I'm Only a Boy!


5. Don't for a Minute Believe the Lies


6. Go to the Potter's House


7. Pashur Whipped Jeremiah


8. This Ever Worsening Wound


9. Twenty-Three Years It's Been


10. Get a Scroll and Write


11. The Recabite Community


12. To All the Exiles


13. Guard . . . King . . . Official


14. I Bought the Field at Anathoth


15. Regarding the Godless Nations


16. No One Will Escape the Doom


Notes