by John OrtbergMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Like one reviewer said, this is classic John Ortberg. Successfully weaving bits and pieces of humor, stories, and personal antecedents into a book about meaningful life stuff, Ortberg does a great job of carrying his theme, "Games as life metaphor" throughout the entire book. There were some parts that seemed abrupt or I didn't quite get the placement or use of a particular story or the particular story just didn't transition well into the next part. But all in all it was a good book. I have to admit that it took me an entire month to read the book, but that was more because of me leaving off at different times and not picking things back up again.
What I'll take most from the book are the following quotes:
"People go through life, get stuff, and then they die, leaving all their stuff behind. What happens to it? The kids argue over it. The kids - who haven't died yet, who are really just pre-dead people - go over to their parents' house. They pick through their parents' old stuff like vultures, deciding which stuff they want to take to their houses. They say to themselves, "Now this is my stuff." Then they die - and some new vultures come for it. People come and go. Nations go to war over stuff, families split apart because of stuff. Husbands and wives argue more about stuff than any other single issue.
Prisons are full of street thugs and CEOs who committed crimes to acquire it.
Why? It's only stuff. Houses and hotels are the crowning jewels in Monopoly. But the moment the game ends they go back in the box. So it is with all stuff." - pgs 84-85
"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 for their coffee tables but don't actually have the life of Jesus in their bones or the love of Jesus in their hearts." pg. 115
"One of the primary barriers that prevents people from wanting to know God is joy-impaired Christians." pg 132
"Physician Bernie Siegel wrote, 'I've done the research and I hate to tell you, but everybody dies - lovers, joggers, vegetarians, and non-smokers. I'm telling you this so that some of you who jog at 5am and eat vegetables will occasionally sleep late and have an ice cream cone.'" pg. 132
"I think the greater danger is, as Paul put it, that the world will "squeeze you into its own mold." The danger is that you will lead a respectable, decent, nonscandalous, busy, tired, human-powered life. That is unspeakably sad. We all want to pursue the kingdom of God. We just don't have the time." pg. 132
"Discovering what is needed to fulfill the meaning of your life is not the same thing as being successful, and it is never easy. But deep in our souls we know an easy mission is not what we were made for. It will not thrill us. No one ever went to see a movie called Mission Not So Difficult." pg. 175
"We are not just physical stuff; we are spiritual beings. And our deepest hunger is spiritual. We hunger for meaning. We hunger for love. We hunger for redemption." pg. 196
"That's the world in which we live: we sell what nobody needs. But the problem of the human heart is: we need what nobody sells." pg. 197
View all my reviews >>
No comments:
Post a Comment