love God. love people. do stuff.

His name is Bob Goff. He's been a lawyer and a foreign consul and a nonprofit head and a book writer.

But last week, I saw him as just a guy.

A guy who has the most contagious laugh, eyes that literally sparkle, and talks expressively with his hands. A guy who is passionate about three things: loving God, loving people, and doing stuff.

Last week, my friend Sarah sent me an excited text, in all caps obviously, asking if I wanted to go see Bob Goff speak at a church. It didn't just make my day, it made my year. He wrote one of my favorite books, Love Does, that I read over the summer. So, it didn't matter that I woke up earlier than I had in weeks, drove an hour, and went to a random church in Muncie, Indiana to hear him. I said yes; to spontaneity, to learning, to being with friends, to adventure.

It was so so worth it. The number one thing I took away from the 30 minutes he spoke was to be passionate. He stood up on the stage and told story after story, endlessly weaving them together. I smiled the entire time because he was so engaging and personal and said things that made me say, "YES! I know exactly what you're talking about."

And in the end, he stepped off stage, walked up to the front row we were sitting in and held my hand to pray together. Then, afterwards, we had a chance to chat with him and thank him for being here. And, he gave us all hugs. I feel like a creepy celebrity groupie talking this way. But, it meant more than that. It showed that he is a normal person, who treats every human he meets with respect and love. He is genuine. And his actions that we saw spoke louder than his words. Just like the last part of his motto says; it's not enough to just love people, but you have to do something about it.

Other beautiful things he said:

I don't know all of the next steps, but I do know the very next one. 

Don't send anyone to voicemail or screen your calls. Become more available as you go along, not less. There's something beautiful about saying hello. 

Do you know the movie Hook? Do you remember when he is with the Lost Boys and they wipe off his face and hold his checks and say, "There you are, Peter." I think Heaven wants to grab you by the cheeks just like that and say, "There you are." Jesus sees who we're becoming. 

You know a lot of churches lay hands on people when they pray. But I think the body of Christ is like crowd surfing. We lift each other up and you don't let go until five other people have them. People will be lining up to follow Christ because it's working. 


Live a life worthy of your calling. Not anybody else's but yours. You know what I do? Every Thursday, I quit something. I quit something to make room for Christ to do something and fill that space. If you're married to someone, you've got to make that work, but if you're just dating, break up with them on Thursday! When they ask why, just tell them, "It's Thursday, I quit stuff." You have all of this stuff that's blocking your view of Jesus. Just say, "I'm out," and give it up.

Everybody wants to make a difference. But very few people are willing to be different. 

We need to be okay with loving inefficiently. We're in the reverse economy of Jesus where the more extravagant your love is, the better. 

Why does God do crazy things that we can't understand? Because he wants to blow our minds.

God's ability to forgive doesn't depend on our ability to "get it." 

And the best part of it all. He used the word bitchin'. Which apparently is not a cuss word back in San Diego. But definitely didn't get the kind of laughter out of the good people of central Indiana that I wanted to participate in.