Book Review: When The Game Is Over It All Goes Back In The Box

Book Review: When The Game Is Over It All Goes Back In The Box by John Ortberg

Whew, what can I say. This book hit me hard. I'm not sure if it would hit most people that way, but without being overly dramatic lets just say this book restored my moral compass. Seriously.

The book uses a metaphor of a game to describe how to play the game of life successfully in God's eyes. It's a difficult book to describe as it hits alot of interconnected topics. I think in many ways it would be a good book for any extremely driven person or those who struggle with trying to impress people, materialism, or confusion about their purpose. Ortberg is an amazing storyteller and while none of the concepts that he gave were really new to me they were presented in such compelling & well chosen stories that they felt like a breath of fresh air to me (or alternatively a slap to the face - either way it woke me up).

I have been reading a lot of books on financial matters recently and this book helped to not just balance them but put them in their place. I highly recommend this book. There are three chapters that by if you could read just one of them it would easily be worth the cost of the whole book. I suspect that this book hit me so hard because of where I'm at in my deeper life, but I found I couldn't read more then a chapter a day as I wanted to reflect on each important point that Ortberg shared. For shock value make sure you read the chapter on The Shadow Mission - prepare for awkward looks if you read it at your co-ed small group. I rate it 4.9 ninja stars out of 5 for it's big picture excellence and easy readability.