John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, is a funny and imaginative author; an exceptional storyteller who has an unusual gift for bringing Bible narratives to life and applying them to ordinary people’s lives. His books have uncommonly long titles but the content is as sharp as a tack.

If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat (2000) is about the adventure of faith. It’s an extended commentary on the episode in the Gospels where Jesus walks on water and invites Peter to join him. Ortberg writes, “Peter failed. But I think there were eleven bigger failures sitting in the boat.” Faith is exciting; it calls for courage, it can be scary, it seems risky – but the bottom line is that Jesus is there. This book encourages all Christians to be “Can do” people.

God is Closer than You Think: If God is Always with Us Why is He So Hard to Find? (2005) is Ortberg’s gift to searchers after truth, both Christians and those who would like to be but aren’t quite there yet. Of course, this book doesn’t prove God’s existence but God is Closer…, full of the usual Ortberg wit and wisdom, offers several handles from everyday life for getting a grip on who God is and how he reveals himself to those who have eyes to see.

When the Game is Over it All Goes Back in the Box (2007) relates the theme of a board game to the whole of life. When it’s all over for us we go off into a rectangular box just like the pieces from Scrabble or Chess. But the analogy doesn’t end there. What is the object of the game? The rules? The hazards to avoid? How do you play well and win? Once more, Ortberg is in his element, this time on the biggest theme of them all; what is the point of life? And how marvelous that in the game that counts when it’s checkmate the King has one last move? A great gift for an agnostic.

Available to buy (or order) on the bookstall.

John Lambert