Track

Written by cycleguy on April 21st, 2014

I am honored when asked to read and review another blogger’s work. I give my space to one today.

As an athlete I enjoy reading books on sports. When I was a boy growing up, one of my favorite series was the Chip Hilton series by Clair Bee. Chip was a multi-sport star and his adventures fueled my desire to be athletic. Baseball. Check. Basketball. Check. Football. Well not so, but I still read them. In high school I read biographies of sports personalities I followed. Even today, I enjoy reading a good book on cycling or baseball, and especially like watching movies which are sports related.

One sport I can attest to only a passing glance at is track. It never captured my fancy on any level, although I have attended plenty of track meets the young people in the church were/are involved in. Enter On Track-Life Lessons from the Track & Field by Jon “Stretched” Stolpe. Jon is one of my blogging buddies who also happens to live in the great state of Pennsylvania (I grew up near Pittsburgh). Tragically, Jon is from the other side of the state where that other Pennsylvania baseball team comes from.  🙂   But I promise not to hold that against him in this review.

Three words came to mind as I read his book: Simple. Practical. Applicable. But don’t misunderstand the words.

Simple. Easily understood. Some write long tomes destined to confuse people. Not Jon. He writes simply. He interweaves Scriptural thoughts with life on the track. You don’t need a theological degree to understand it.

Practical. His book is divided into chapters which focus on different aspects of track & field. Not earth-shaking rocket science, but down-to-earth illustrations that even a novice to track & field can appreciate.

Applicable. This is where Jon shines. With chapter headings like Starting Blocks, Hurdles, Long Jump and more, Jon applies the events of a track meet with daily life lived as a follower of Christ…without being preachy.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who is interested in sports, but especially someone who is into Track & Field. There are a few young people I will be making sure get a copy of this book.

I downloaded a preview copy of the book but was not required to give a good or favorable review. I was glad to do so. You can order his book from Amazon here.

 

14 Comments so far ↓

  1. Daniel says:

    I didn’t know Pittsburgh had any professional sporting teams, least of all baseball. (By the way, I am a Braves fan and they make you sign a paper swearing eternal allegiance.) Glad you got to read a book that brought you some pleasure. That is definitely a plus.

  2. floyd says:

    Congratulations to Jon! Not an easy thing to put yourself out there. I’ll check it out. Thanks, Bill.

  3. tcavey says:

    Thanks for sharing about Jon’s book. He’s a great guy.

  4. Really proud of Jon.