Book Review -- When the Game is Over, it All Goes Back in the Box

Jeff and I actually listened to this book on CD on our California trip, so I don't have the pages in front of me to flip through as I review it.

First, John Ortberg. I love him. We both love him. Jeff and I read his book The Life You've Always Wanted and it totally changed our lives. It was like having a spiritual formation mentor who is absolutely amazing. His style is clear and comfortable and his self-deprecating humor is absolutely hilarious. The book doesn't just inspire change, it makes you really want to have coffee with John Ortberg.

I liked this book, but not as well as that one. To me, that one is the gold mine because that's the one that describes the spiritual formation process, which to me is the meaning of life. So where do you go from there?

When the Game is Over is essentially a book about priorities, about what Ortberg calls "regret-proofing" your life. Again the clarity and humility in the writing are outstanding and the concept is piercing. He has a way of making you examine yourself to the point that it makes you uncomfortable, which I think is difficult for a book to do. In general books allow a person to stand at a distance from themselves, but Ortberg's brutal honesty with himself leaves the reader with no option but to examine herself deeply. Which is painful.

Example: Ortberg refers to a discussion he had with some pastors at a conference. One guy asked "How's your church going?" He explains that that's pastor-speak for "How big is your church?" which is pastor-speak for "How important are you?" He goes on to discuss how tempted he was to lie in that situation to inflate his own importance. Painful? Yes. True? Absolutely. It's impossible not to relate when you realize that even famous pastors are tempted to inflate their own importance!

My favorite thing about non-fiction (do we call them self-help?) books is the aftertaste -- the thoughts that stick with you. In this case, the thought of regret-proofing my life has stuck with me. It provides a clarity that is extremely helpful to me at a stage where I'm navigating a whole new normal in my life.

The Alyssa Review gives this one 4 out of 5 stars, and I recommend reading it as soon as you're done with The Life You've Always Wanted, which has earned a place in my top 5 books of all time. :)