Love Does: A book review

God invites us to be new creations, original art, and to live a life of engagement.

Love does isn’t so much a ‘how to’ book as it is a collection of inspiring stories about how one man, Bob Goff, decided to model love in his life and with his children. It’s a book that truly illustrates why it’s not enough to talk about what you want to do in the world, or what you believe in—you have to DO SOMETHING about what you believe in and you don’t have to be the most famous, most talented, smartest or even wealthy to do SOMETHING for another person.

As a parent I was inspired by the way the Goff’s have chosen to parent their children. From ’10 year old Adventures’ to encouraging their children to write leaders in foreign countries and then vowing to take them to any of the countries they were invited to. In the end, the Goff children received invitations from and visited political leaders in 29 countries! Can you imagine what a life changing experience that is to have as a kid? What could ever possibly intimidate you after such an experience?

God says He wants us to battle injustice to look out for orphans and widows, to give sacrificially. And anyone who gets distracted with the minutiae of this point or that opinion is tagging out of the real skirmish. God wants us to get some skin in the game and to help make a tangible difference. I can’t make a real need matter to me by listening to story, visiting the website, collecting information, or wearing the bracelet about it.

I guess I would say that before reading this book I already believed in the things Bob writes about. We did start a Family Foundation because we wanted to DO something in this world, after all. However, after reading it I feel a new resolve to think BIGGER and involve our children in the brainstorming process. I’m going to start putting myself out there and realizing the worst that can happen is that someone can say No.

Sometimes when you want to chase after a dream or fight for change in the world it’s easy to become discouraged. It’s easy to feel small and insignificant, but you have to press on, because you’re uniquely created for this world. Everyone has the ability to change lives. I now firmly believe that and I intend to model that for my children.

All proceeds from the sale of the book benefit Restore International and the Mentoring Project.

enjoyed it? please share >