Product Description

A promotion. A new house. The rewards of winning at life’s game can be thrilling. But eventually everything goes back into the box, and what ultimately matters is whether we’ve played according to God’s rules. John Ortberg uses popular games and his trademark gift of storytelling to help us live our lives for the things that really count.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10522 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Pastor and bestselling author Ortberg (God Is Closer Than You Think; Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them) offers a thoughtfully written instruction manual for Christian game players of all ages. Using games as a metaphor, Ortberg presents carefully considered tactics for succeeding in life from God's vantage point. Each chapter weaves the rules of gaming with the Christian journey: understanding the object of the game (being spiritually rich toward God); the setup (keeping score, taking turns, preventing regret); how to play (with rules, gratitude and a mission); hazards (competition, greed, losing); and winning (choosing the right trophies). Christians will especially appreciate Ortberg's wise counsel on being the kind of player other people want to sit next to, as he exhorts readers to learn to lose with grace, win with grace and forgive with grace. Perspective is key; after all, when the game is over, it all goes back in the box. Ortberg demonstrates some finesse in bringing together the extended game imagery with various real-life stories that are by turns comical and poignant. With excellent tools for personal and group study alike, this book's strategy offers a win-win solution. (Sept.)
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Review
"…a thoughtfully written instruction manual for Christian 'game players' of all ages. Using games as a metaphor, Ortberg presents carefully considered tactics for succeeding in life from God's vantage point. Each chapter weaves the rules of gaming with the Christian journey: understanding the object of the game (being spiritually 'rich' toward God); the setup (keeping score, taking turns, preventing regret); how to play (with rules, gratitude, and a mission; hazards (competition, greed, losing); and winning (choosing the right trophies). Christians will especially appreciate Ortberg's wise counsel on being the kind of player other people want to sit next to, as he exhorts readers to learn to lose with grace, win with grace and forgive with grace. Perspective is key; after all, 'when the game is over, it all goes back in the box.' Ortberg demonstrates some finesse in bringing together the extended game imagery with various real-life stories that are by turns comical and poignant. With excellent tools for personal and group study alike, this book's strategy offers a win-win solution." — PW Religion BookLine

(PW Religion BookLine )

From the Back Cover
Remember the thrill of winning at checkers or Parcheesi? You become the Master of the Board—the victor over everyone else. But what happens after that, asks bestselling author John Ortberg. You know the answer: It all goes back in the box. You don’t get to keep one token, one chip, one game card. In the end, the spoils of the game add up to nothing.

Using popular games as a metaphor for our temporal lives, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box neatly sorts out what’s fleeting and what’s permanent in God’s kingdom. Being Master of the Board is not the point; being rich toward God is. Winning the game of life on Earth is a temporary victory; loving God and other people with all our hearts is an eternal one. Using humor, terrific stories, and a focus on winning “the right trophies,” Ortberg paints a vivid picture of the priorities that all Christians will want to embrace.

Customer Reviews

With passion and imagination, Ortberg calls readers to reassess their priorities and change their lives
John Ortberg, a well-known California pastor and bestselling author (THE LIFE YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED), knows how to captivate a reading audience, and he does it, page after page, in WHEN THE GAME IS OVER, IT ALL GOES BACK IN THE BOX. Using playing games as a metaphor for life, Ortberg shows how the object of the game is a life "rich toward God" --- growing a healthy soul, enjoying the people around you, doing good work, becoming generous and savoring the moment.

Wise people, writes Ortberg, build their lives around what is eternal. He suggests asking yourself the question, "What in your life is going to last forever, and what is going back in the box?" Spend your time caring for the inner you as well as the outer you. Think about the changes you need to make. Let go of wrong priorities. Quit trying to control that which is out of our control, rather than letting the "Master of the Board" take the helm.

What makes this book so brilliant is not that Ortberg offers a lot of new information. It's that he has a flair for synthesizing this information and organizing his ideas in a way that makes them practical as well as soul-stirring. It's also a joy to read.

Gently, in one section, he calls readers to reassess a preoccupation with "stuff" and concentrate on what is most important. A "richness of being" is always available, Ortberg says. "I can seek at any time, with God's help, to be compassionate, generous, grateful, and joyful...usually it will not mean seeking to accumulate more stuff." As he shows through a moving story about Larry, a church member who is killed in an accident, in the end it's not about our achievements or our wealth. It's about our capacity to love. It's the people, not the stuff, that we need to focus on.

Ortberg also reminds his readers that Christians have to be consistent in acting like Christians instead of labeling themselves as such. "The world gets pretty tired of people who have Christian bumper stickers on their cars, Christian fish signs on their trunks, Christian books on their shelves, Christian stations on their radios, Christian jewelry around their necks, Christian videos for their kids, and Christian magazines on their coffee tables but don't actually have the life of Jesus in their bones or the love of Jesus in their hearts." "Be the kind of player people want to sit next to," he urges, borrowing from a Monopoly analogy.

By turns humorous, painfully vulnerable, poignant and wise, Ortberg weaves biblical, personal and fictional anecdotes together with practical points in a compelling way for the reader. He includes insights from many excellent authors throughout, including Anne Lamott, Lewis Smedes, Susan Howatch, Viktor Frankl, Marjorie Rawlings and Thomas Lynch. Rather than getting in the way, these quotes and excerpts enrich the text.

One of Ortberg's passages that haunts me is this: "We need to ask ourselves what we are doing (or not doing) with our lives now that could lead to deep regret." He urges the practice of "regret prevention" --- assessing the commitments we have made in light of what we don't want to regret. Then, he asks us to consider what we need to rearrange. Don't wait for a crisis --- a child running away, getting fired, having a spouse file for divorce --- to force your hand, he urges. More will never be enough.

Although he uses the game metaphor throughout, Ortberg doesn't force it to get his ideas across. The narrative flows seamlessly. In places, Ortberg writes about spending time with your children, but this book is suitable for readers at any stage of life. My husband and I --- almost empty nesters --- are planning to read and discuss it together. It would be an excellent resource for personal reflection or small group study as well.

This is Ortberg writing at his best. But reader, be warned --- you'll come away changed.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby

MUST READ!
I have recommended this book to everyone I know!!! I am listening to it again! Even my 15 year old son listened to it and enjoyed it.

Fantastic Book!
I am so thankful for this book. It puts in perspective what is eternal and what is temporal. I bought the audio and started last year to listen to it but because the topic was about the final goodbye, death, I freaked out and put it away. Just a few weeks ago I decided to hear the whole book. It spoke! and Spoke to me and reminded me again that people was more important than material things, jobs, ministry activities and etc. I am listening to it again to keep my focus on eternal things.