Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World

by Bob Goff

I think instead, Jesus wants us to write “Be Awesome” on an undershirt where it won’t be seen, not on the back of a hoodie.

He was saying, what if we were just to do awesome, incredible stuff together while we’re here on earth and the fact that only He knew would be enough? If we did that, we wouldn’t get confused about who was really making things happen. Not surprisingly, we’d get a lot more done too, because we wouldn’t care who’s looking or taking credit. All that energy would be funneled into awesomeness.

God’s plans are full of just-us kind of people. I would say probably the majority of us are just-us people, folks who don’t get capes or stained-glass windows. We just get the opportunity to do what God wants us to do without a lot of fanfare.

Getting passed by can feel like a great injury. But it’s not. It’s people like us who can be secretly incredible and get the most done. That’s the way Jesus’ reverse economy works. God loves the humble ones, and the humble ones often don’t make it as first-round draft picks for the jobs with big titles or positions. But they always seem to be the first-round picks for God when He’s looking for someone to use in a big way. Jesus’

We all have these friends, these amazing people who seem to live on the edge of death. It must be because it’s on that edge where they feel most alive, where they have the best perspective on life. It’s where one missed step, one wrong move would end it all that they realize all over again how beautiful the place they’re standing actually is, a place where they live and breathe and love well.

People who take huge risks

aren’t afraid to fail. In fact, they love to fail. It’s because failing means they found the edge.

The guy celebrated stunning failures like I celebrated my biggest successes.

Don taught countless numbers of people how beautiful it is to fail. More so, he demonstrated how beautiful it is to keep trying nevertheless, to keep moving forward and loving yourself enough to love your mistakes. It

He wanted to move from dancing on the edge of heaven to being in heaven.

Don hiked his last miles valiantly, beautifully, knowing that death was just a doorway to something better, something we only

see traces of in this life.

That God is good, all the time. God is good.

used to think there were some prisons you couldn’t escape, but now I know there’s no place I can go where God can’t rescue us.

I used to think I needed to record stories, but now I know I just need to engage them.

I used to think I needed to record stories, but now I think I just need to engage them.

He said that His followers should just find the person with the least credentials to decide the biggest disputes among them.

Jesus thought, however, that the least would bring the most to the table.

I don’t think Bible verses were meant to be thrown like grenades

at each other.

It sounds an awful lot

like the kind fight Jesus took on for us when He called out death for us and won.

When I have skin in the game, the outcome all of a sudden matters to me and I become engaged.

That explains why Jesus never talked about just building consensus; He wanted us to build a kingdom instead. If you get engaged like that, you’ll be able to remember Bible verses better because you’re living them instead of just reading them.

I think Jesus had in mind that we would not just be “believers” but “participants.” Not because it’s hip, but because it’s more accurate, more fitting that way. He wanted people who got to the “do” part of faith, not because He wanted activity, but because He wanted our faith to matter to us.

Now instead of talking about an issue, I’m talking

about a person, someone who matters to me. I think that Jesus wired us that way so that we’d remember. And it’s not about just being politically correct; it’s about being actually correct. We need to make our faith our very own love story.

Collecting information about someone is not the same as knowing a person.

Jesus said that unless you know Him like a child you’ll never really know Him at all. Kids don’t care about facts, and they certainly don’t study each other. They’re just with each other; they do stuff together. That’s what Jesus had in mind.

When their palms are up, they have an easier time being calm, honest, and accurate. And this is important, because it’s harder for them to get defensive. When people get angry or defensive they tend to make mistakes. But nobody can be defensive with their palms up.

But it was Jesus who taught me there was nothing I could really lose if I had Him. He taught me to be palms up, just like He was. Palms up means you have nothing to hide and nothing to gain or

lose. Palms up means you are strong enough to be vulnerable, even with your enemies. Even when you have been tremendously wronged. Jesus was palms up, to the end.

And through the many paradigm shifts I’ve had following Jesus, the one that

seems to universally apply is that we should be palms up.

The world has been shouting over the noise of our programs that it doesn’t need more presidents or organizations, what it needs are more friends. If you are a sincere friend, folks around you will quickly understand that there’s no hidden agenda and nothing on the other side of the equals sign—

just you.

That’s the way the chemistry of God’s

love and our creativity work together when combined. No reservoir can hold it, no disappointment can stop it, and no impediment can contain it. It can’t be waved off, put off, or shut down. It doesn’t take no for an answer. Instead it assumes yes is the answer even when it sounds an awful lot like a no to everyone else.

We want them to be leaders through

action, not just in name.

Because, if I’ve learned one thing from Two Bunk

John, it’s that love does whatever it takes to multiply itself and somehow along the way everyone becomes a part of it. You know why? Because that’s what love does.

What’s your next step? I don’t know for sure, because for everyone it’s different, but I bet it involves choosing something that already lights you up. Something you already think is beautiful or lasting and meaningful. Pick something you aren’t just able to do; instead, pick something you feel like you were made to do and then do lots of that.

You weren’t just an incredible idea that God never got around to making. The next

step happened for the world when God dropped you on the planet. You’re here and I’m here. God decided to have us intersect history, not at just any time, but at this time. He made us to be good at a few things and bad at a couple others. He made us to love some things and not like others. Most of all, He made us to dream. We were meant to dream a lot. We’re not just a cosmic ...