Resonate Book Review: "Taking On Giants" by Joe Portale

30 September 2010

234 pages, YWAM Publishing, 2010, Seattle

www.ywampublishing.com

Review by JASON GHRIST

ResonateNews.com

For anyone seeking to live the “balanced” and sedate spiritual life, "Taking On Giants: A Pioneer Missionary's Pursuit of God's Vision For Ministry and Life" by Joe Portale is not recommended. In the pages of this remarkable good read, we find the farthest thing from quiet spirituality. Instead is an unsettling invitation to enter into the risky conflict of a life lived in absolute dependence on God, in a world yet fully surrendered to Him.

Portale challenges our comprehension as he recounts the experiences and lessons learned – and reveals understandings of God he has developed – during years of ministry to the French-speaking world as a missionary with Youth With a Mission. “Taking on Giants” calls us to a “new” way of living with God - going beyond the Sunday school religion many may have been taught. For some, the challenge may seem to be too great.

The God in whom he believes, Portale says, is still very active and involved in our daily lives. God expects to be listened to and depended upon for every major and small decision of life. Phrases in the pages such as, “God was leading me,” “showing me,” “revealing to me” are written in such a matter-of-fact fashion, we are led to believe such experiences should be common for all.

This message is only strengthened by experiences Portale recalls - extremely vivid memories - of times when he actually took seriously what he believed to be God’s direction and encountered uncanny results.

We are gripped with the sense of desperation Portale writes about as he and his team experienced events unfolding during a grueling journey overland through the vast and treacherous Sahara desert. We are astonished as Portale shows how his team’s needs were met in incredible ways on this journey, and on many others.

We are moved with compassion as Portale responds to the needs of Cambodian refugees ravaged by war, hunger and disease. We marvel at the ways Portale shows how God responded to prayer and broke down the defenses of atheists, those steeped in the occult, Muslims, Buddhists and even Christians.

As Portale recounts his life experiences, he shows at each point a leading from God, a crisis of faith and a choice to believe and obey. The author speaks candidly about how confounded he felt on numerous occasions as he followed what would seem an unscripted ever-changing path that might leave even the most faithful a bit unnerved.

Following the leading of God led Portale through many unexpected challenges and events that would test the limits of his faith- not only in God, but specifically in his ability to “hear” God. Portale shows how he was challenged to trust God even when there seemed to be no earthly reason to do so.

He took a huge risk choosing to drive his whole team into Western Africa when his reputation and the lives of the team members were on the line. He served refugees just miles across the border of war-stricken Cambodia with the potential war breaking out over the border at any moment threatening his life. He describes turning down a job offer as a youth minister with stable income to live as a missionary with his wife, not knowing where the next dollar would come to pay for food and lodging.

Through it all Portale shows how God challenged him to take his Word seriously.

“[God’s] promises are not automatically fulfilled,” he writes. “Instead, we must seize them by faith. Giants like Goliath… must be defeated; they don’t just go away…. What we did in taking on this giant in our Promised Land would define our lives and ministry. Either we would run away defeated or we would be courageous and victorious with God’s help.”

Copyright 2010, 234 pages, YWAM Publishing, Seattle, Wash.

EDITORS NOTE: Jason Ghrist holds a degree in Christian Education from Wheaton College. He was raised in Kenya, Africa. His grandfather Bill Ghrist, founded the Lighthouse For Christ in Mombasa that has operated since 1973. Tim and Toni Ghrist, Jason's parents, now direct Lighthouse For Christ