Love Does: a brief (and enthusiastic) review

The short review of this book: read it immediately. Immediately.

I'm having a hard time coming up with a way to do this book and this man justice. I first heard of Bob Goff on the Relevant Magazine podcast; Cameron started recording the podcast right after finishing his interview with Bob and was so pumped up and ready to take on the world he couldn't sit still. His life was changed because of one conversation with Bob - which turned into a friendship that has since brought him back on the podcast for more interviews and plenty of fun stories - and that's kind of how I feel about reading this book. I'm not completely and entirely sure how my life needs to change yet, but I know it needs to and I know it will. I also know I'm going to read this book many times.

Bob Goff's only book Love Does is made up of 31 super short chapters that each tell a different wacky, insane story from Bob's wacky, insane life. From the story of how he got into law school (by sitting on a bench outside the dean of admissions' office asking him every day to enroll him) to the story of how he sent flowers to the elderly lady that totaled his beloved Jeep, Bob has lived a life for the ages. He sees every moment as an opportunity to have fun and spread the joy and love of Christ to everyone he comes into contact with...and that's not a blanket statement. That's real. He really wants to do that for every single person he comes into contact with. He probably doesn't always succeed (and I have heard him confess once with his own voice that he has bad days sometimes) but I really do believe that he tries.

Even though the criticism I hear a lot about Bob and his book is that he's an extremely successful lawyer with rare financial abilities to fly his kids around the world for spontaneous trips or other "capers" that most of us wouldn't be able to do, I see his heart and I see the core of his message. Love, in its simplest terms, is a verb and therefore something that requires action. When you see a need, love doesn't talk about how to meet that need it just starts meeting it. It just...does.

I highlighted all throughout this book, so there's a lot I could share with you but instead I'm just going to repeat myself: read this book immediately.