Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Recommended by:   Karen Reader

Author:   Bob Goff

Genre:  Non Fiction, Theology, Christian, Self Improvement

224 pages, published May 12, 2012

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

Love Does is a memoir by the somewhat eccentric, but very Jesus oriented, Bob Goff.  Bob is  a true original.  While in college, Bob spent 16 days in the Pacific Ocean with five guys and a crate of canned meat.  He pursued his wife for three years before she agreed to date him.  His grades weren’t good enough to get into law school, so he sat on a bench outside the Dean’s office for seven days until they finally let him enroll.  Bob challenged his children to write to all of the world’s heads of state and then visited the ones who responded.  Bob was even named consul for the country of Uganda based on some friendships he had made.  The theme running through all of Bob Goff’s various activities and adventures is love.  However, not content to feel love, Bob’s default position is to take action because he believes Love Does.

Quotes 

“That’s because love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.”

 

“he said we’d know the extent of out love for God by how well we loved people.”

 

“I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I’m more afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.”

 

“Things that go wrong can shape us or scar us.”

 

“I used to want to fix people, but now I just want to be with them.”

 

“Most people need love and acceptance a lot more than they need advice.”      

 

“The cool thing about taking Jesus up on His offer is that whatever controls you doesn’t anymore. People who used to be obsessed about becoming famous no longer care whether anybody knows their name. People who used to want power are willing to serve. People who used to chase money freely give it away. People who used to beg others for acceptance are now strong enough to give love. When we get our security from Christ, we no longer have to look for it in the world, and that’s a pretty good trade.”

 

“Whimsy…needs to be fully experienced to be fully known. Whimsy doesn’t care if you are the driver or the passenger; all that matters is that you are on your way.”

 

“I used to think God wouldn’t talk to me, but now I know I’m just selective with what I choose to hear.”

 

“We all want to have a place where we can dream and escape anything that wraps steel bands around our imagination and creativity.”

 

“I learned that faith isn’t about knowing all of the right stuff or obeying a list of rules. It’s something more, something more costly because it being present and making a sacrifice. Perhaps that’s why Jesus is sometimes called Immanuel – “God with us.” I think that’s what God had in mind, for Jesus to be present, to just be with us. It’s also what He has in mind for us when it comes to other people.”

 

“Being engaged is a way of doing life, a way of living and loving. It’s about going to extremes and expressing the bright hope that life offers us, a hope that makes us brave and expels darkness with light. That’s what I want my life to be all about – full of abandon, whimsy, and in love.”

 

“I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, but now I know you simply need to say yes.”

 

“I don’t think Bible verses were meant to be thrown like grenades at each other. They were meant for us to use to point each other toward love and grace and invite us into something much bigger.”

 

“Actually, the real game of Bigger and Better that Jesus is playing with us usually isn’t about money or possessions or even our hopes. It’s about our pride. He asks if we’ll give up that thing we’re so proud of, that thing we believe causes us to matter in the eyes of the world, and give it up to follow Him. He’s asking us, “Will you take what you think defines you, leave it behind, and let Me define who you are instead?”

 

“Failure is just part of the process, and it’s not just okay; it’s better than okay. God doesn’t want failure to shut us down. God didn’t make it a three-strikes-and-you’re-out sort of thing. It’s more about how God helps us dust ourselves off so we can swing for the fences again. And all of this without keeping a meticulous record of our screw-ups.”

 

“Living a life fully engaged and full of whimsy and the kind of things that love does is something most people plan to do, but along the way they just kind of forget. Their dreams become one of those “we’ll go there next time” deferrals. The sad thing is, for many there is no “next time” because passing on the chance to cross over is an overall attitude toward life rather than a single decision.”

 

“It has always seemed to me that broken things, just like broken people, get used more; it’s probably because God has more pieces to work with.”

 

“I don’t think anyone aims to be typical, really. Most people even vow to themselves some time in high school or college not to be typical. But still, they just kind of loop back to it somehow. Like the circular rails of a train at an amusement park, the scripts we know offer a brand of security, of predictability, of safety for us. But the problem is, they only take us where we’ve already been. They loop us back to places where everyone can easily go, not necessarily where we were made to go. Living a different kind of life takes some guts and grit and a new way of seeing things.”

 

“Turning down this invitation comes in lots of flavors. It looks like numbing yourself or distracting yourself or seeing something really beautiful as just normal. It can also look like refusing to forgive or not being grateful or getting wrapped around the axle with fear or envy. I think every day God sends us an invitation to live and sometimes we forget to show up or get head-fakes into thinking we haven’t really been invited. But you see, we have been invited – every day, all over again.”

My Take

Not only is Love Does a really inspirational book, but it is also a lot of fun to read.  Bob Goff is a character who is living life on his own (and God’s) terms.  In his recounting of many hilarious and impossible stories of his life, his love for people and God shines through.  Through his example, you see that most of your limitations come from your own mind.  Goff shows us that we all have a potentially amazing life to live if we trust God and step forward and live it.