Love Does

“…love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.”

Bob Goff is the founder of Restore International, a non-profit organization fighting injustices against children in Uganda + India. He’s also a lawyer, American Consul for the Ugandan government, professor, father, friend, storyteller, + mentor to many.

For months I’d been waiting to get my little hands on his new book Love Does. And after finally reading it, this book is definitely one of the most impacting books I’ve ever read in my entire reading life.

Each chapter is approximately 4 flicks of a page long + tells an individual story from his life; all relating back to how love does.

It’s quite remarkable.

Through each chapter I was inspired, laughed out loud, challenged to my core, + felt the love + warmth that’s within him seep through the pages.

He’s transparent, genuine, real, humble, + practical.

He tells of how despite not being the smartest person, through persistence + banging down doors, he became a lawyer (my favourite chapter!).

He tells of when he first encountered + eventually won over the love of his ‘Sweet Maria’ all through extravagant (+ hilarious) gestures.

He tells of the hilarious circumstances in which he became a Consul for the Ugandan Government.

He tells of what he learnt about love from the audacious love from others.

He tells of how his family flew all around the globe interviewing world leaders…all because they decided to write the leaders a letter asking to + received letters back from them saying ‘Yes’.

And this story isn’t in the book, but he’s also the first person to ever take a Ugandan witch doctor to trial… + win. But more than that, he later visited the witch doctor in jail (3000 inmates in a 600 inmate capacity prison), + after talking to him the witch doctor said he wanted what Goff had + accepted Christ.

True justice is paired with love.

In the midst of these stories that may seem like the ones you only see in the movies, they are in fact true + happened as one man chose to see a lesson of love in each situation.

And the funny thing is that after reading this book you don’t envy Bob’s life one little bit; you realize that living a life of significance is doable when love is the centre of your everything.

Why did I write about Bob + this book?

Because reading about people who aren’t striving to make a difference in the world, but are simply living + loving each moment are the ones who leave a lasting legacy + are to be learnt from.

“There is only one invitation it would kill me to refuse, yet I’m tempted to turn it down all the time. I get the invitation every morning when I wake up to actually live a life of completely engagement, a life of whimsy, a life where love does. It doesn’t come in an envelope. It’s ushered in by a sunrise, the sound of a bird, or the smell of coffee drifting lazily from the kitchen. It’s the invitation to actually live, to fully participate in this amazing life for one more day. Nobody turns down an invitation to the White House, but I’ve seen plenty of people turn down an invitation to fully live.” - Bob Goff, Love Does

You can get the book here. He’s also one of my favourite people to follow on Twitterworld: @BobGoff + @lovedoes.