BookTuesday: Game Plan for Life

Today's book review is Joe Gibbs' Game Plan for Life. Here's the cover:

Game Plan for Life: Your Personal Playbook for Success

And indeed, it's a free book review book from Tyndale Publishers. So don't think there's no relationship---although no one at Tyndale could pick me out of a police lineup, they do send me books every now and then!

Game Plan for Life is Joe Gibbs' entrance into the world of turning success into publishing. It's become a well-trod path, though a few of the trips down this path have gone off a cliff.

Game Plan, though, doesn't go off the cliff. Rather, this book surprised me. I expected references to Gibbs' football experiences and his NASCAR team ownership, and of course those were present. However, this book is more than just an extended sports metaphor.

Gibbs has attacked the idea of writing a book to guide you to personal success the same way a head coach builds a winning team: find experts in specific areas and put them to work. For Gibbs, that means putting authors like Ravi Zacharias, Charles Colson, and Randy Alcorn to work in his book.

Ultimately, though, just like a head coach, Gibbs is responsible for the final outcome of the book. He's done well with it. Woven through the various topics in the book are stories from Gibbs personal and professional life. He follows up each chapter with a short summary section. Since he's primarily known as a football man, it's no surprise to find these labeled as "Two-minute drills."

I mentioned that this book surprised me. Here's why: the front cover features the phrase "3-Time Super Bowl Champion and 3-Time NASCAR Champion" in front Joe Gibbs' name as if it were a title like "Dr." or even a military rank.

Then, into the book, I think there's maybe one or two references to any of those championships. His victories are on the cover, but the heart of the book is illustrated by his failures and shortcomings. It's not phrased as a "oh, I had trouble, too" type of thing, either. It's worded as "there's more to learn from the failures than the successes."

As it stands, I'd highly recommend this book for a men's class or a Bible study, also for anyone wanting to think through some basic implications of how the Christian faith looks when lived out.

Again, a great read and well worth your time. With this, Joe Gibbs jumps to being my second favorite coach (even though he's not coaching). Now, if he'd quit having his team drive Toyotas…..

Doug

 

To be clear: Tyndale sent me a copy of this book in exchange for the review.