How Bob Goff Changed My Life

The man, the myth, the legend: Bob Goff.

For much too long, I refused to buy into this lawyer turned best selling author, assuming his messages were all words I had heard time and time again. I didn’t understand the hype surrounding his best selling novel Love Does, and I had no interest in changing that stance. I thought that going to church and “knowing,” God was all I needed to do. But finally, something inside me broke, and I gave in to the book all my hipster Christian friends were reading. I am so glad I did. Because once I read it, I was hooked.

I wasn’t just hooked on the book, on the few hundred pages depicting Bob’s anything but average life. I was hooked on his childlike wonder, curiosity, vulnerability, authenticity, and most importantly, his relationship with Christ. I was hooked on a lifestyle Bob Goff so eloquently explained through his parables and stories, one that I have only ever dreamed of achieving. One that I am now wholeheartedly determined to find.

From the very beginning, Bob’s story is different. It isn’t a memoir of facts and figures, or his various incredible achievements, but instead, is living, breathing proof of something greater. For the first few chapters, I assumed the stories, words, and interactions were exaggerated or completely made up. I couldn’t imagine any other way that his life seemed to work out the way it did. And then it hit me: it was made up… of hope, adventure, trust, honesty, vulnerability, and joy; of the things Christ promises to us as we delight in Him. As Bob himself often refers to, his life is made up of whimsy.

Before entering into the world of Bob Goff, I was going through the motions, uneasy the whole way. I attended an average school that I was never able to call home, considered my “friends,” the ragtag group of people surrounding me, and I did everything in between just to get by. On the outside, there wasn’t anything wrong with that. After all, I heard the good old, “It’s just four years -- stick it out,” phrase every single day. And I started to believe it. Until Bob Goff showed me something much greater -- love.

I’m not saying that after reading Love Does by entire life was magically fixed. I didn’t become a new person overnight, and I don’t suddenly have very many stories of whimsy to tell. I’m still working on changes, on thinking through my words before I speak, on dreaming big, and on making decisions that highlight the beauty of Christ. I’m not saying that my life is perfect, because, in reality, it is anything but. One thing I am saying is that Bob Goff was a starting point for the change I always knew I needed.

Bob Goff singlehandedly showed me what a Christ-like life means. He showed me how to be a follower in a day and age where following anything except trends or the motions is radical. He showed me how to make love a choice, something you are bringing into your own hands and producing intentionally along the way. He showed me how the desires of our hearts, the ones we want to honor The Lord, will be met -- even if we think we are imagining them too big or too great. He showed me how words, hugs, and smiles can make a big difference in the lives of others, and ourselves. He showed me the importance of living your life like it is the only story you will ever tell. Because the reality of it all is it IS the only story you will ever tell. So you might as well make it one worth living -- “fully engaged and full of whimsy and the kind of things that love does.”