December 12, 2024 • 41 mins
Join us for an inspiring conversation with the ever-curious Bob Goff as he shares his wisdom on living a meaningful life through curiosity and spiritual presence. Bob, the author of "Catching Whimsy: 365 Days of Possibility," guides us through the journey of releasing the tight grip of over-planning to rediscover joy and spontaneity. By recognizing the divine in everyday moments, we find endurance and hope, transforming the mundane into the extraordinary through faith.
Explore the power of storytelling as we reflect on faith and doubt with Bob. Much like the relatable parables of Jesus, our discussion underscores how shared experiences can reveal profound spiritual truths. With humor, Bob shares a story about mistaking a bug on a windshield for a more serious threat, illustrating how our perspective often amplifies minor challenges. This reflection encourages us to break down life's overwhelming moments into smaller, more manageable pieces, bringing clarity and peace.
In our talk, we also explore the dynamic balance between humility and ambition in faith. Drawing inspiration from the Gospel of John, we delve into embodying faith through love and curiosity, steering away from arguments. Bob emphasizes living out a vibrant and engaging faith that inspires bold actions rooted in love. Whether it's through his unique Bible study methods or his knack for finding meaning in everyday occurrences, Bob invites us to a deeper engagement with our values, enriching our spiritual journeys.
Links Mentioned:
Bob's website: https://www.bobgoff.com/
Bob's new book: https://amzn.to/3D7HQsk
Bob's favorite Bible: https://amzn.to/4fekXRs
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ellen Krause (00:04):
At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
Our goal is to help you delightin God's Word and thrive in
Christian living.
Each week we talk to subjectmatter experts who broaden your
biblical understanding,encourage you in hard times and
provide life-building tips toenhance your Christian walk.
We are so glad you have joinedus.
(00:25):
Welcome back to the Coffee andBible Time podcast.
This is Ellen, your host.
Life can often feel mundane andpredictable, like we're stuck in
endless cycles of planning anduncertainty, especially this
time of year.
It's easy to lose our sense ofwonder and joy when the weight
(00:49):
of responsibilities and unknownspress in Well.
In this episode, my guest BobGoff and I are going to discuss
what it means to pursue a moremeaningful life.
Bob will also discuss his newdevotional Catching Whimsy 365
Days of Possibility.
In it, he invites us on ayear-long journey of discovering
(01:13):
curiosity, joy and theincredible possibilities God has
placed in our everyday lives.
Bob's reflections will show ushow to start seeing God's
immense love in the smallmoments.
Let go of over planning andembrace spontaneity.
Life can feel heavy andmonotonous.
When we ignore theseopportunities for joy and whimsy
(01:36):
, we risk missing out on thebeauty of God's presence in the
ordinary and the extraordinaryalike.
So let's choose to approachtoday with an expectant heart.
Bob Goff is the New York Timesbestselling author of Love.
Does Everybody Always Dream Bigand many more.
(01:57):
He loves balloons, cake popsand helping people pursue their
big dreams.
Bob's greatest ambitions are tolove others, do stuff and, most
importantly, hold hands withhis wife, sweet Maria, and spend
time with their amazing family.
Please welcome Bob.
Hey there, welcome Bob.
(02:18):
I'm so glad and excited for youto be joining us today and I
have to say your message is soencouraging.
I feel like you know so manypeople right now are just
feeling weighed down and I'mcurious about what inspired you
(02:38):
to write Catching Whimsy and howyou feel that will impact
others.
Bob Goff (02:44):
Yeah, I want people to get a tap on the shoulder and
remember.
Sometimes what we do is weforget stuff along the way.
It's just natural, and theolder I get, the more I forget.
But even people in their 20sare forgetting how God has shown
up, and I love in thescriptures how people's heads
were on a swivel.
They were looking for where Godshowed up Acts 1-1, theophilus,
(03:06):
lover of God, look for manyconvincing proofs that Jesus is
still alive.
These are people that had theirhead turning and they're
wondering what was happening.
They weren't making it up andthey weren't seeing cloud
formations that look like Johnthe Baptist.
They were instead engaged inseeing the movement of God in
people's ordinary lives.
There's a great verse it's Acts4.13, and it says that they saw
(03:32):
Peter and John and they knewthey were just unschooled,
they're ordinary guys, but theysaw their courage and they knew
they'd been with Jesus.
What I want to do is, in words,remind people, just be a tap on
the shoulder to say, hey, getout there, he's everywhere, he's
doing stuff, and I know we allface really difficult times.
You know, I don't know anybodywho's exempt.
(03:54):
I know people who are oblivious, but I don't know anybody who's
exempt.
And so when we have thesedifficulties, what do you do
with them?
And certainly you grieve whensad things happen, but then if
faith guides your steps.
Again it's Romans 8, this ideathat suffering produces
(04:15):
endurance, endurance, characterand character turns into hope.
And I'm kind of a type A guy soI want to go straight to hope.
But I need to realize thatsuffering turns into endurance,
turns into character, turns intohope.
And so for people who are rightnow going through a hard time,
to just it's not putting a happyface on it, it's just
(04:36):
remembering that this is thepattern and remember how that's
been in the pattern in the past.
Do you know?
In the scriptures, the idearemember is in there 8,670 times
.
I didn't count, but Wikipediawouldn't lie to me.
This whole idea of rememberingis what devotionals are about.
It's a great opportunity tokind of remember how God showed
(05:01):
up, how we get to respond.
Yeah, that's what I want to do.
I want to just spend a lot oftime remembering.
Ellen Krause (05:06):
Yeah, absolutely, which is very typical of what we
see also in the Old Testament,right when God used the stones
with the 12 tribes of Israel tocreate this remembrance and
remembering to tell the nextgeneration.
Bob Goff (05:21):
Totally.
Ellen Krause (05:23):
So Bob, tell us what the role of curiosity is in
this process and what does thatlook like in our daily lives?
Bob Goff (05:33):
Well, you know, if somebody has to define it for
you, then you're not a curiousperson.
If you're thinking like you'relistening to this, you're stuck
in traffic and you're going likeI just wonder what curiosity is
?
I think most of us would becurious why am I stuck in
traffic?
This is a highway, we'resupposed to be moving along, and
(05:54):
so sometimes we can just beresponding and reacting to
whatever's going on around usand ricocheting off all the
people and all that.
But and again, you don't need aBible verse for everything, but
sometimes it's a great littleanchor.
Philippians 2.20,.
It's Paul talking about hisbuddy Timothy.
He said I don't have anybodylike Timothy.
(06:14):
He's a guy who takes a genuineinterest, insert curiosity about
everybody.
And so I think the people thatare unschooled and ordinary like
us I don't care if you haveyour PhD, you're a lot more
ordinary than you think.
What you've got isextraordinary, but you're still
ordinary.
And so what I want to do is tosay okay, so, given that we're
(06:39):
all kind of walking with a limp,can we stay curious, not just
about what's going around us andthe traffic jam that we're in
and what the cause was, but tothink there's probably somebody
wrapped around a tree in frontof us and to take a genuine
interest in them, instead ofsaying hey, I'm getting late or
I'm inconvenienced.
Think like somebody's going toget you know, head to heaven or
(07:02):
have some real lot of metaldamage to fix.
And so I think that would bethe distinction to just like
lift your eyes from what's goingon in our small world.
And we're born to be thinkingabout our needs, right?
You're a little baby, just likeJesus arrived, and you know you
wet your diaper.
And you're thinking I'm kind ofuncomfortable right now.
(07:24):
And you know you wet yourdiaper and you're thinking I'm
kind of uncomfortable right now.
And you're like you're 65 andmaybe the same thing's happening
, but you're thinking like it'stoo hot, it's too cold, it's too
stressful, the crowds are toobig.
And I want us to lift our eyesand think about, like, what are
some lasting things here?
I want to remember thoselasting things.
And again, that's the reasonfor writing a devotional,
(07:47):
because I want to remember thoselasting things.
And again, that's the reason forwriting a devotional, because I
want to not talk about thepetty stuff anymore.
We're spending just a weirdamount of time.
If you ever hear me talk aboutsports.
Nothing wrong with sports, I'vejust my only sport is
cheesecake.
But if you talk about all thepetty stuff and never get to the
real stuff and I'm not sayingsports is great if that blows
your hair back, but let's makesure we talk about who's the
second baseman and then alsowhat's going on in your life.
(08:10):
What's keeping you from hittinga home run?
What?
What is it that last time yougot beamed by a ball?
Like let's talk about where thepain points are as well and
then talk about what's goingright.
We don't just be Eeyore andjust talk about what's wrong.
It's a cloudy day, but that'swhy I live in San Diego.
Like a bad day is 72 and Sunday.
Ellen Krause (08:32):
Oh boy, I can't relate.
Bob Goff (08:35):
You can influence some of your circumstances by
changing your viewpoint, and youcan also change your location.
You can literally.
If you're over Illinois, thencome on out here.
You won't like the house prices, but you'll love the weather.
Ellen Krause (08:53):
Yeah, I'm quite sure of that, Bob.
One of the great things thatyou do in this devotional is
that you use so many stories toreally bring to life the message
that you're trying to convey.
Do you have an example of thiscuriosity, a memorable story
(09:13):
from the book that highlightsthat?
Bob Goff (09:16):
Well, yeah, here's the first thing about stories, and
it comes from Matthew 13.
It said that Jesus never spoketo anybody without telling him a
story or two.
And so when I am in faithgatherings and they want to tell
me about the four words inGreek for love, agape, phileo,
I'm just like I want to hurl.
I don't care.
It's not that I don't careabout scripture, I just would
(09:38):
care a lot more about somebodywho loved you well, somebody who
did something selfless,something that pursued you
without an agenda.
I'm like these are the stories.
That's why Jesus pointed tosheep.
He wasn't talking about wordsin Greek, he pointed to sheep
and he says it's like when oneof those gets away, and
everybody's like I know exactlywhat that feels like.
So, knowing about what it feelslike to lose hope or to lose
(10:04):
faith, I bet there's somebodystuck in traffic, not only
losing faith that they're goingto get somewhere on time, but
maybe they just have some bigquestions about their faith.
I love the honest conversationa dad had in Mark 9.
It's like I believe just helpme with all the parts.
I don't believe right now, andthat can be what it feels like.
And rather than having somebodygive me a Bible study about
(10:28):
belief and where it comes from.
And faith is confidence in whatyou're hoping for and assurance
of what you haven't seen fromHebrews.
I don't want to know all theBible verses they know.
What I want to do is have youtell me a story of when, a time,
you were in a similarcircumstance and what you
learned, and don't make it aboutyou.
Make it about them, right,because we make everything about
(10:48):
.
Well, I did this and then I didthis, and I did this In writing
books.
I allow myself one me, my or I,and everything else has to be
the words we, us or our.
So when you write your memoirs,file that away One me, my or I,
and then everything else is we,us and our, because people
don't want to see your vacationpictures and it was great, I'm
(11:13):
glad you went to Maui, that'sawesome, but with the person
said, hey, what was the lasttime that you felt like
bedazzled by someplace and likethat kind of conversation?
These are the reasons Jesustold stories.
He pointed to deep truths,eternal kinds of truths, and he
onboarded them with stories.
(11:33):
So that's the reason for thestories, and then the stories
that come to mind are just thateveryday things, for no
particular reason.
I was thinking yesterday aboutlearning how to fly an airplane,
and this isn't a 747.
It's just like a little Cessna,like barely had wings, and
(11:54):
those had duct tape on it.
Ellen Krause (11:56):
Oh dear.
Bob Goff (11:57):
It was a pretty lousy airplane, but you finally get to
the place where you do yoursolo.
It's like your first time andyou take off and you're all
alone and it's a little bitanxiety producing because it's,
you know, if you have somebodyin there that knows what they're
doing.
But flying solo and this, if Iwas telling that story I would
immediately talk about we allhave had that first time.
(12:20):
Right, there was a first foreverything.
I'd probably talk aboutRevelations 2.
The problem that he had is thatwe'd forgotten our first love.
So I would use a story toonboard a principle.
I would tie it to scripturebecause I'm a Bible verse guy
and yet, other than a devotionalwhich has Bible verses, the
(12:42):
other 10 books I've writtendon't have any Bible verses.
Isn't that awesome, because Iwrite books for the guy at the
tire store.
So Jesus was telling story forshepherds who actually had sheep
, and he talked about sheep theway shepherds.
He talked to people aboutlepers who were in a colony that
(13:03):
had lepers in them.
So what I want us to do is findthose relatable stories.
Well, even if you haven't flowna plane, you could probably
relate to this.
You don't want to hit the otherplane that's up in the air,
right, relatable, right.
And yet in our faithcommunities see we, us, our, yet
(13:25):
in our faith communities.
That's, we're colliding withopinions and we're colliding
with people's positions aboutthis and that, and we are
keeping our eyes fixed on Jesusfrom Hebrews 12.1.
Like what we're doing is we'recolliding with each other.
And so then I would go back tothe story and, as I got up, to
like altitude and level thewings, you look at everything
(13:47):
all at once and then you chunkit up, 10% of the sky at a time.
So look at this 10% to take areally hard look.
And what if you took a look atyour life during this time,
during this season of Adventthat we're in right now?
What if you looked at just 10%of your life?
Look at your faith, look atyour family, look at your
friends, look at your finances,everything with an F, you can
(14:09):
look at philanthropy if youcan't spell.
But to chunk it up a little bit.
And so, as I was looking throughthe window, 10% at a time, I
realized, oh my gosh, there's ahuge jet airliner out in the
distance and it seemed like wewere on a collision course
because we were both like he wasright in the center of the
window.
And so I'm no dummy, I was notfreaked out, but I was a little
(14:32):
mindful and so I said I'm goingto gain altitude.
So I went up 2000 feet andhere's the crazy part the other
guy went up 2000 feet.
We're still on this collisioncourse.
I'm like, oh yeah, and youcan't just like call the other
guy Like you're just, you're upthere and you just miss him.
So I turned to my left and as Iturned to my left he turned to
(14:57):
his right and it's a little bitbigger in the windscreen.
And so I thought, ok, don'tfreak out, just descend back to
where you were.
So we're down a couple thousandfeet.
I think he was thinking thesame thing, because he went down
2,000 feet and just as he wasgetting a little bit bigger, I
realized it's a bug on thewindow.
(15:23):
There's a deal like the thingsthat look really big and ominous
in our life they're usuallylittle things that we just got
really close to.
We got so close to them that wecouldn't see them for what they
were.
And so what Jesus did is healways told stories and he
always landed on an eternal kindof truth.
He gave them this idea, and sohe'll say you know, you've heard
(15:48):
it said, but now.
I say you've heard it said, butnow I say and you heard it said
, but now I say and so I thinkthe devotionals are a great
little tap on the shoulder toremember that maybe some of the
big stuff in front of you rightnow isn't so big, it's just that
it's right in front of you.
And front of you right now isn'tso big, it's just that it's
right in front of you and so itfeels big.
It's the only thing you can seeand you try to go above it.
(16:08):
You can't.
You go, try to go below it andthat doesn't work.
You try to miss it on the leftand the right and at some point
we just need to deal with it.
But we need to figure out whatit is before we deal with it.
Um, so if you're saying rightnow, like I'm feeling stressed
out, which is a common feelingfor a lot of people Just let's
tease it apart and say what areyou stressed out about?
Let's go through our Fs, faith,family fund finances, you know
(16:30):
whatever, maybe a Ferrari Justpaying the insurance on that
thing.
So what I want you to do isthat let's do a little bit of an
internal audit.
Jesus, you know, was asked topay tax and he told the guy to
go catch a fish and pull thecoin out.
Now we never know if heactually paid the coin over.
(16:52):
But I really like the idea oflike even Jesus was audited from
time to time, that there arepeople saying what are your
motives, what are yourintentions, what do you think?
And so to do that for ourselvesin a really beautiful, winsome
way and to get there throughstories, head on a swivel,
looking for Jesus and evidencethat he's still alive.
Ellen Krause (17:13):
Absolutely, you know.
That reminds me of the passagein scripture that talks about I
think it's maybe at the end ofJohn, where he says if they
would have written down all ofthe things Jesus have done,
there wouldn't have been enough,you know, room paper to write
it on.
Bob Goff (17:29):
I mean, that's one thing that I'm excited about.
Ellen Krause (17:30):
Heaven is to say, be curious, like all these
things that weren't written out,what was he doing, and the
stories he was telling, and howfun will that be to know someday
.
Bob Goff (17:40):
Well, I think too, having some humility.
There's a famous saying thatthere's two types of people in
the world humble people andpeople who are about to be.
So when somebody speaks to mewith absolute certainty about
pretty much any topic, then Ijust wonder if they've got
(18:02):
themselves convinced.
Certainly, but I just try tostay humble on those things
rather than feeling like I'vegot it nailed every time.
They can do what Paul said tocheck the scriptures.
But even then that verse I wastelling you about in Matthew 5,
like you've heard it said.
But now I say, because you'veheard it said is scripture.
(18:22):
And he said but now I saythat's scripture.
He said you've heard it said,now it's scripture.
And then now I say that'sscripture.
He said you've heard it said,now it's scripture.
And then now I say and so to,just because I'm a Bible verse
kind of guy, I really want tosearch the scriptures.
I want to actually know what ithas to say.
But I don't try to clobberpeople with it.
(18:42):
I don't say well, if youdisagree, here's three verses.
Because sometimes in our faithcommunities we're doing this
kind of wimpy jujitsu thing oneach other with Bible verses and
that's just so uninspiring andit's actually uninspiring for
the people who are involved aswell.
They don't care, they're justtrying to win an argument.
And I would say, if you want tojust argue with everybody, be a
(19:04):
lawyer.
I was for 30 years and then Ijust bailed.
I'm like I'm not doing this.
I'm not.
I'm not Jesus's lawyer anymore.
I'm not trying to win a bunchof arguments.
What I'm trying to do is befaithful to the things that he's
given me, and I'm just notthere yet.
I don that.
That is so refreshing for theworld to hear.
Instead of hearing what youthink you've got wired, hear
(19:25):
what you're still trying tofigure out.
Yeah, so instead of reachingour weak hand towards people
this weak hand which issometimes embellished with all
(19:49):
kinds of other things we thinkwe're certain about, to kind of
pretend we know more than weknow or that we have more game
than we have, just be humble.
Just say man, I'm trying tofigure that out too.
Just be more interested inwhere another person's at than
trying to convince them over towhere you're at.
Yeah, then that's actuallyreally good advocacy for a guy
(20:10):
who wins arguments for a living.
Ellen Krause (20:13):
I'm just saying Right, right, you know, Bob, I
thought one of the things and Iactually did a word check in
your devotional for the wordambition, because I noticed that
it kept coming up over and overagain, over 50 times in the
book, the word ambition, and youtalk about it, and it just
(20:38):
really did build an excitementwithin me.
Why is it important for us toidentify and go after our
ambitions?
Bob Goff (20:43):
Yeah, I know a lot of people that have great doctrine,
but it feels like theirtheology is a little weak and
I'm not pointing a bony fingerin their direction.
It's just like there's atheology of just loving people
the way Jesus did, and he neverasked one person to agree with
him.
He said if you believe thesethings, do it.
(21:04):
Galatians 5, 6,.
The only thing that matters isfaith expressed in love.
And then the crazy part is hedoesn't need our help.
I keep asking him every morningbut Jesus, what can I do for
you?
He's got a thing, he's got it.
But what we can do is, as anoutgrowth, an outflowing of what
we actually believe, you'll do,that you talk about the stuff
(21:26):
you love.
I love Dippin' Dots.
I love them.
I won't go a day or two withouttalking about Dippin' Dots.
I can't afford them, but I loveDippin' Dots.
Have you ever had those at themall?
Ellen Krause (21:36):
Yes, yes.
Bob Goff (21:37):
People who buy Dippin' Dots at the mall, like me,
maybe, like you, and we went tothe mall and we forgot what we
went to the mall for.
We didn't go to the mall fordip and dots, and so sometimes
people forget why they're here,that we get this period of time
and I just want to be helpful.
You know, when Jesus asked,summarize the whole thing the
(22:01):
way that he summarized it was tobe loving people that are just
adjacent to us, are justadjacent to us, and that takes
actually a level of ambitionBecause there's been in my youth
.
I didn't grow up in the church.
I didn't know anybody who wentto church.
I didn't know anybody whotalked about church.
I was in high school before Imet somebody who said faith was
(22:24):
a big deal for him and he wasactually a screw up.
He was all messed up, and themore I realized that it wasn't
this kind of buttoned down thing, that it was like there was
room for people who were messedup that had it wrong.
I mean, jesus' disciples werewith him for three years and
they didn't even know who he was.
You know, they thought he wasgoing to go in and conquer
(22:46):
Jerusalem and he's like oh, no,no, no, that's not how it works.
Can you find a donkey for me toride in on?
And they're like wait what?
And so, and one of thedisciples one of his own Sunday
school class members, you knowwent the other direction for him
.
And there's still thiscompassion.
(23:07):
Right, if I had one last mealto eat, I wouldn't have it with
a person I knew who would betrayme.
And yet I see that modeled andI've seen people who live a
really authentic, engaged faiththat they start doing things
that other people don'tunderstand, that they themselves
don't always understand.
(23:28):
People don't understand thatthey themselves don't always
understand.
And I think that is just reallyattractive to me to say that if
you're really that confidentthat God is who he said he was,
that you could start acting andinteracting with the world in a
different way, in a humble way,and then people will not meet
your opinions, they'll meetJesus, like they won't say
what's your position on?
(23:49):
Insert here the social issue ofthe day.
Not that they're unimportant,but compared to the things that
are important to me, they'reunimportant.
And so I just I don't wantpeople to like know us for what
we're against.
I want us to know us for whatwe do, what we engage, what we
embrace, what we're doing, uh,all the time knowing God doesn't
(24:11):
need our help, but it's anoutflow.
It's like me talking aboutDippin' Dots have I mentioned
that again?
And like if somebody says youknow I was at work and I
mentioned Jesus at the waterfountain and you know, I really
think it's taken hold.
This isn't a secret handshakekind of thing, that's not.
That works.
It's like what you do is, Iwould assume, just know where
(24:34):
you're at in your faith, becauseyou're just living a life
that's extraordinary.
They saw their courage and theyknew they'd been with Jesus
without Peter and John saying aword.
I love Matthew 16, the SimonPeter moment.
He says you know who does?
Everybody say I am, and uh, andSimon Peter reported back that
you know, some say you're ateacher, and he actually was an
(24:57):
awesome teacher and he saidothers say a prophet, he was all
of that too.
But then Simon Peter says but Ithink you're God.
And then Jesus responds to himDon't tell anybody.
What was the mind of all myevangelical friends, and I think
the next verse really clarifiesit it's flesh and blood.
(25:18):
Doesn't reveal this to you.
It'll be the spirit of God sowe don't lead people to Jesus.
Jesus leads people to Jesus andI can get on board with that
Like.
I just want to do my part, mypart love people, jesus's part,
letting people know who he is,and that doesn't go in wimpy on
(25:39):
taking bold things.
You know that verse in Peter,to always be ready to make a
defense for the hope that'swithin you.
It's almost like everybodywants to lawyer up and then they
stop reading there and theydon't continue in the sentence
and say but do it with kindnessand respect.
And I just sometimes we missthe kindness and respect part.
So I want to, for my dyslexicfriends like to like, let's
(26:01):
start with that.
Read the verse backwards.
Ellen Krause (26:04):
Right.
Bob Goff (26:05):
You know what, if we start with kindness and respect
and then maybe tap the brakes onbeing Jesus's lawyer?
Ellen Krause (26:13):
Love that, Bob.
I feel like you know when wechase after our ambitions, like
sometimes that can be scary,depending you know on what that
is for you in particular, itrequires faith, you in
particular.
It requires faith, and I liketo think of it as it requires so
much faith that you see how itcouldn't have been possible
(26:35):
without God, and that's where Ifeel like God's really shown up
big in my life.
Bob Goff (26:44):
Yeah, I get that that whole idea of having ambitions
is.
It requires you to take thispersonal assessment of yourself
to say, hey, what really am Iwanting to be about?
What do I want to do, andwhat's these things that we do
right?
These activities, thesedifferent things that we, the
(27:16):
way we interact with the world,and those are usually tied to
emotions.
So if a behavior, for instance,is that you're really short
with people or curt, it's tiedto an emotion, and the emotion
is oftentimes insecurity or itcould be the emotion of anger,
and so then the behavior isbeing really short with people
and that emotion is usually tiedto an unmet need.
(27:38):
So there's an unmet need whichis for love and acceptance and
all that, and so you walk arounda little bit angry because
you're not getting what youactually need, which is love and
acceptance.
And then the way that thatworks itself out in a behavior
is that you're short and curtwith people.
So I think, spending a littlebit of time in our faith
communities to just say, hey,why are we doing what we're
(28:00):
doing?
And a lot of the things thatwe're doing are motivated by
either fear or love, and so noteverything, but I would say 90%
or more, and so it's a like.
So why do you work?
I say, well, like fear that Iwouldn't have a place to live.
If I did, I couldn't make rent.
Or you say I do because I loveit.
(28:22):
So there might be other mixedreasons for people.
But oftentimes if you do alittle bit of an audit, like, am
I doing this out of fear orlove?
Another really compellingemotion is the desire for
acceptance.
So sometimes we do thingsbecause we want to be accepted
into community.
(28:42):
We speak a certain way, we usewords that we don't really
normal people don't use thosewords, but we adopt them because
we want to identify with agroup of people that uses that
kind of language.
Like here in San Diego, peoplesay dude all the time, like dude
, that was so good or whatever.
How many people in Illinois saydude?
Ellen Krause (29:03):
Not a lot Many, I'm sure.
Bob Goff (29:05):
Yeah, right.
And then in the PacificNortheast it's wicked like
wicked cheesy, like the Cheetosare wicked cheesy literally says
it on there.
Not wicked like evil, it's justlike very right.
So people say we start adoptingpeople's words and when I'm in
the South I start saying y'all.
And nobody in San Diego saysy'all.
(29:29):
But I start doing it becauseit's not a desire for acceptance
, it's just I'm around it somuch I start doing it.
And so what if the language thatwe use in our faith communities
was around acceptance and loveand faithfulness to Scripture?
You don't have to say theScripture every time, but you
could be thinking where thatfits, and not to win a trivial
(29:52):
pursuit or a Bible quiz, butthat you know where that is and
you know that's true.
And so then, when other stuffcomes your way this is the
beginning of Galatians, that ifsomebody comes and preaches a
new gospel or a different one,then run out of the room Because
you need to know what theoriginal was, is, so you'll know
this is a different one thenrun out of the room because you
need to know what the originalwas, is, so you'll know this is
(30:13):
a different one.
And so what?
I would say not as a cautionarytale, but if faith guides your
steps, then I would say, spendsome time noodling around like
figuring out when a questioncomes up about dating or romance
or workplace or whatever.
John six nine it says thatdisciples are saying like so,
what's our work?
(30:34):
Like, what are we supposed todo?
And I get that question all thetime.
I'm supposed to be a lawyer, adoctor, a plumber, what's my
work?
And Jesus response was yourwork is believe in the one God
sent, and so that kind of gutsit.
In a way.
It's almost like you said and Idon't care.
I don't think he wants usknocking off liquor stores, but
I think what he cares about isour hearts, and what we do for a
(30:57):
day job is almost irrelevant.
Just whatever you do out ofPhilippians, do it like you were
doing it for me.
So I love that idea.
If we were dancing through thescriptures and knew them.
Whether you feel like you havea good memory for the scriptures
or not, you can just say Iremember there's a verse
somewhere that says which isawesome, it's not a game show,
(31:18):
but just to know where thatanchor is.
Otherwise, tony Robbins isgoing to have as much voice in
your life as Jesus Christ willand Tony's a great guy, but
Jesus is better.
Ellen Krause (31:30):
Agree, agree.
Well, bob, as we start to kindof wrap things up, what do you
hope readers are going to takeaway from their experience of
going through this 365 dayjourney?
What can they look forward to?
Bob Goff (31:56):
is their stories.
I hope they won't see mine.
I hope what they'll see is thisinvitation to this beautiful
life that God has invited themto.
I hope they'll see each day asthis opportunity to like kind of
dig in, to do a little bit,push out a little bit deeper.
That's the 38 miracles thatJesus did.
That's the fifth one, and Jesusinvited them to these guys to
push out a little bit deeper.
(32:17):
And they thought it was a badidea.
They thought it was stupid.
They'd been fishing all night.
But the verse after that saysthey did it anyway.
So that would be my hope thatpeople would read these pages
each day.
They'd get a tap on theshoulder, not a pointy uh finger
pointed in their face, but justtap on the shoulder to remember
(32:39):
why we're doing what we'redoing and then be encouraged to
just give people a little bitmore slack.
When people do something superlame, I, just when people do
something lame, I picture alittle thought bubble over their
head, uh and uh.
In the thought bubble the wordsare I'm being really helpful
right now, even though they'renot at all, but most people
(33:03):
aren't trying to be disruptive.
They think they're actuallybeing helpful.
They'll comment on somethingyou said or they'll get your
grill about something In theirmind, they're being super
helpful.
Get your grill about somethingin their mind, they're being
super helpful.
We've got a uh, these scottishhighland cattle out at a retreat
center.
I've got, and uh and uh, theydropped a new one off.
And uh, and I asked the guythat dropped it off is your cow
(33:26):
nice?
Because we have people therefor equine therapy and all that.
They just need that.
Their life has been hard, theyjust need to pet a nice cow.
And he said she's so nice andwent on and on and so I jumped
into the pen and it gored me.
Oh, it's like I told him.
I thought she said your cow wasnice and I'll never forget.
(33:47):
He said she don't know she hashorns.
I'm like every mother-in-lawjoke right there.
So that whole idea that somepeople just don't know they have
horns, that cow thought she wasnuzzling me when she was goring
me, and so people that arehurting you think they're being
helpful to you.
And so what we need to do ishave the maturity and the
(34:08):
confidence in our faith,informed by our failures and our
successes, but to walk intothat situation and see a thought
bubble that says I'm beingreally helpful right now, and
then you don't need to give themairtime because what they did
is super lame, so just move on.
Talk about sports.
I would.
I don't care, I just changedthe subject.
Ellen Krause (34:32):
Oh well, bob, after going through many of your
devotionals, I can assurepeople that they will be so, so
encouraged.
Where can they go to find outmore information about you and
your book?
Bob Goff (34:46):
Yeah, I'm a pretty easy guy to track down.
I put my cell phone number inthe back of three million books,
isn't that awesome?
I can't get a thing done.
I get so many phone calls of 3million books Isn't that awesome
?
I can't get a thing done.
I just thought Jesus wasavailable to everybody.
And you have somebody thatwrites a country Western song
about a big old truck or a bigold dog and then people like it
and they're not availableanymore.
Or somebody gets a bit part ina movie and they're not
(35:08):
available.
They have keepers and cupbearers and all that.
And Jesus just said you know 12misfits.
I don't even have 12 people, Ijust have a cell phone.
So I'm a pretty easy guy toreach.
Just type in Bob Goff somewhereand you'll find me.
Ellen Krause (35:25):
Excellent.
Okay, well, we will make surewe have links in our show notes
as well for people.
Before we go, though, I have toask you some of our favorite
Bible study tool questions.
What Bible is your go-to Bible,and which translation is it?
Bob Goff (35:39):
Oh, JB Phillips.
It's the.
They call it the cookbook Bible, and JB Phillips was a pastor
at a church in the UK at thetime.
In World War II they'redropping bombs and the only
authorized version of thescripture was the King James and
none of the kids in his classunderstood all the these and
(35:59):
thous.
So he sat in a bunker when allthe bombs were dropping and he
wrote the first living Bible andit's called the JB Phillips
Bible for Schools and they putit in every single school in the
country.
Isn't that awesome.
I love that.
That's my cookbook Bible.
Ellen Krause (36:13):
Oh cool, isn't that awesome.
I love that.
That's my cookbook Bible.
Oh cool.
Okay, bob, do you have anyfavorite journaling supplies or
anything that you like to use toenhance your Bible?
Bob Goff (36:22):
study experience.
Pen and paper I send myself,and an iPhone.
I send myself about 150 emailsa day.
Isn't that crazy?
I get home, I'm like him again,block, but I will encounter
people and circumstances andthoughts and little shards of
ideas and I send myselfimmediately a, an email about it
(36:44):
and then get this.
I stopped having quiet timesprobably 30 years ago.
Mine are super loud.
What I'll do is I'll takeeverything that I sent myself
the day before and I'll check itagainst scripture.
I'll just so in the mornings Imean it is loud, it is raucous
because I'm trying to likereally engage this stuff and so
um.
So that's the pattern for me.
(37:06):
Yeah, I don't write it on gumwrappers.
I send myself emails and thenthe next morning I just get
rowdy and like just say, like,let's figure out if this is true
.
If it doesn't square withscripture, I just don't put it
in the next book, and if it does, then I might.
Ellen Krause (37:20):
Okay, excellent, okay.
Lastly, what's your favoriteapp or website for Bible study
tools?
Bob Goff (37:27):
You know, I just really like Google.
I think if I'm trying to findsomething, I literally I just
put a Google, the first cointhat was ever minted in the
United States.
On the one side it said we areone from John 17.
Isn't that awesome.
And on the backside of thatcoin it says mind your business,
keep that in mind.
(37:51):
So, like that whole idea, likeso, uh, what will stick with me
is that idea something reallyinteresting.
I'm not a coin collector, uh,but I got a hold of that coin,
uh, and I think there's justsomething beautiful like these
reminders.
Constantly I wear a mickeymouse watch I.
You know, I walk into roomsevery once in a while where
(38:12):
nobody's smiling, becausethere's like a lot of conflict
in the air and I'm like me andyou, buddy, oh boy, smiling, I'm
smiling.
So for a tool, I think I justuse Google so much to just get
right to it, to get to theinteresting stuff, because I
don't want to talk about thestuff that I've already talked
about.
I was in oh what's that placethat has a real bad water system
(38:36):
Flint, michigan.
I was in Flint and it was thespringtime and I walked out my
hotel room and all the roads hadbeen salted and I'm like, dude,
it's like 70.
Why have you salted the roadsand get this?
They get their salt next yearbased on how much they use up
this year, and it was a reallylight winter, so they started
(38:57):
salting the roads, even thoughthey didn't need to.
I'm like, oh, that'll preach.
So what I'm trying to do whenit comes to a Bible study or
Bible app, to go a little bitdeeper, keeping in mind that
John 13 telling stories to findinteresting things that bring me
to the feet of Jesus, bring meback to the scriptures.
Ellen Krause (39:17):
That's beautiful, Bob.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us today, for
encouraging us, you bet, and Ijust I really appreciate your
sense of humor, your curiosityand just the way that you will
definitely inspire people ifthey choose to pick up your book
, which I highly encourage.
Bob Goff (39:38):
Yeah, or you can wait for a while and get it for a
nickel at a used bookstore.
Either way, whatever it is thatencourages people, just keep
doing that.
Ellen Krause (39:47):
Absolutely All right.
Well, we just want to let ourlisteners know we appreciate you
.
We thank you so much forlistening.
Have a blessed day.
At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
Our goal is to help you delightin God's Word and thrive in
Christian living.
Each week we talk to subjectmatter experts who broaden your
biblical understanding,encourage you in hard times and
provide life-building tips toenhance your Christian walk.
We are so glad you have joinedus.
(00:25):
Welcome back to the Coffee andBible Time podcast.
This is Ellen, your host.
Life can often feel mundane andpredictable, like we're stuck in
endless cycles of planning anduncertainty, especially this
time of year.
It's easy to lose our sense ofwonder and joy when the weight
(00:49):
of responsibilities and unknownspress in Well.
In this episode, my guest BobGoff and I are going to discuss
what it means to pursue a moremeaningful life.
Bob will also discuss his newdevotional Catching Whimsy 365
Days of Possibility.
In it, he invites us on ayear-long journey of discovering
(01:13):
curiosity, joy and theincredible possibilities God has
placed in our everyday lives.
Bob's reflections will show ushow to start seeing God's
immense love in the smallmoments.
Let go of over planning andembrace spontaneity.
Life can feel heavy andmonotonous.
When we ignore theseopportunities for joy and whimsy
(01:36):
, we risk missing out on thebeauty of God's presence in the
ordinary and the extraordinaryalike.
So let's choose to approachtoday with an expectant heart.
Bob Goff is the New York Timesbestselling author of Love.
Does Everybody Always Dream Bigand many more.
(01:57):
He loves balloons, cake popsand helping people pursue their
big dreams.
Bob's greatest ambitions are tolove others, do stuff and, most
importantly, hold hands withhis wife, sweet Maria, and spend
time with their amazing family.
Please welcome Bob.
Hey there, welcome Bob.
(02:18):
I'm so glad and excited for youto be joining us today and I
have to say your message is soencouraging.
I feel like you know so manypeople right now are just
feeling weighed down and I'mcurious about what inspired you
(02:38):
to write Catching Whimsy and howyou feel that will impact
others.
Bob Goff (02:44):
Yeah, I want people to get a tap on the shoulder and
remember.
Sometimes what we do is weforget stuff along the way.
It's just natural, and theolder I get, the more I forget.
But even people in their 20sare forgetting how God has shown
up, and I love in thescriptures how people's heads
were on a swivel.
They were looking for where Godshowed up Acts 1-1, theophilus,
(03:06):
lover of God, look for manyconvincing proofs that Jesus is
still alive.
These are people that had theirhead turning and they're
wondering what was happening.
They weren't making it up andthey weren't seeing cloud
formations that look like Johnthe Baptist.
They were instead engaged inseeing the movement of God in
people's ordinary lives.
There's a great verse it's Acts4.13, and it says that they saw
(03:32):
Peter and John and they knewthey were just unschooled,
they're ordinary guys, but theysaw their courage and they knew
they'd been with Jesus.
What I want to do is, in words,remind people, just be a tap on
the shoulder to say, hey, getout there, he's everywhere, he's
doing stuff, and I know we allface really difficult times.
You know, I don't know anybodywho's exempt.
(03:54):
I know people who are oblivious, but I don't know anybody who's
exempt.
And so when we have thesedifficulties, what do you do
with them?
And certainly you grieve whensad things happen, but then if
faith guides your steps.
Again it's Romans 8, this ideathat suffering produces
(04:15):
endurance, endurance, characterand character turns into hope.
And I'm kind of a type A guy soI want to go straight to hope.
But I need to realize thatsuffering turns into endurance,
turns into character, turns intohope.
And so for people who are rightnow going through a hard time,
to just it's not putting a happyface on it, it's just
(04:36):
remembering that this is thepattern and remember how that's
been in the pattern in the past.
Do you know?
In the scriptures, the idearemember is in there 8,670 times
.
I didn't count, but Wikipediawouldn't lie to me.
This whole idea of rememberingis what devotionals are about.
It's a great opportunity tokind of remember how God showed
(05:01):
up, how we get to respond.
Yeah, that's what I want to do.
I want to just spend a lot oftime remembering.
Ellen Krause (05:06):
Yeah, absolutely, which is very typical of what we
see also in the Old Testament,right when God used the stones
with the 12 tribes of Israel tocreate this remembrance and
remembering to tell the nextgeneration.
Bob Goff (05:21):
Totally.
Ellen Krause (05:23):
So Bob, tell us what the role of curiosity is in
this process and what does thatlook like in our daily lives?
Bob Goff (05:33):
Well, you know, if somebody has to define it for
you, then you're not a curiousperson.
If you're thinking like you'relistening to this, you're stuck
in traffic and you're going likeI just wonder what curiosity is
?
I think most of us would becurious why am I stuck in
traffic?
This is a highway, we'resupposed to be moving along, and
(05:54):
so sometimes we can just beresponding and reacting to
whatever's going on around usand ricocheting off all the
people and all that.
But and again, you don't need aBible verse for everything, but
sometimes it's a great littleanchor.
Philippians 2.20,.
It's Paul talking about hisbuddy Timothy.
He said I don't have anybodylike Timothy.
(06:14):
He's a guy who takes a genuineinterest, insert curiosity about
everybody.
And so I think the people thatare unschooled and ordinary like
us I don't care if you haveyour PhD, you're a lot more
ordinary than you think.
What you've got isextraordinary, but you're still
ordinary.
And so what I want to do is tosay okay, so, given that we're
(06:39):
all kind of walking with a limp,can we stay curious, not just
about what's going around us andthe traffic jam that we're in
and what the cause was, but tothink there's probably somebody
wrapped around a tree in frontof us and to take a genuine
interest in them, instead ofsaying hey, I'm getting late or
I'm inconvenienced.
Think like somebody's going toget you know, head to heaven or
(07:02):
have some real lot of metaldamage to fix.
And so I think that would bethe distinction to just like
lift your eyes from what's goingon in our small world.
And we're born to be thinkingabout our needs, right?
You're a little baby, just likeJesus arrived, and you know you
wet your diaper.
And you're thinking I'm kind ofuncomfortable right now.
(07:24):
And you know you wet yourdiaper and you're thinking I'm
kind of uncomfortable right now.
And you're like you're 65 andmaybe the same thing's happening
, but you're thinking like it'stoo hot, it's too cold, it's too
stressful, the crowds are toobig.
And I want us to lift our eyesand think about, like, what are
some lasting things here?
I want to remember thoselasting things.
And again, that's the reasonfor writing a devotional,
(07:47):
because I want to remember thoselasting things.
And again, that's the reason forwriting a devotional, because I
want to not talk about thepetty stuff anymore.
We're spending just a weirdamount of time.
If you ever hear me talk aboutsports.
Nothing wrong with sports, I'vejust my only sport is
cheesecake.
But if you talk about all thepetty stuff and never get to the
real stuff and I'm not sayingsports is great if that blows
your hair back, but let's makesure we talk about who's the
second baseman and then alsowhat's going on in your life.
(08:10):
What's keeping you from hittinga home run?
What?
What is it that last time yougot beamed by a ball?
Like let's talk about where thepain points are as well and
then talk about what's goingright.
We don't just be Eeyore andjust talk about what's wrong.
It's a cloudy day, but that'swhy I live in San Diego.
Like a bad day is 72 and Sunday.
Ellen Krause (08:32):
Oh boy, I can't relate.
Bob Goff (08:35):
You can influence some of your circumstances by
changing your viewpoint, and youcan also change your location.
You can literally.
If you're over Illinois, thencome on out here.
You won't like the house prices, but you'll love the weather.
Ellen Krause (08:53):
Yeah, I'm quite sure of that, Bob.
One of the great things thatyou do in this devotional is
that you use so many stories toreally bring to life the message
that you're trying to convey.
Do you have an example of thiscuriosity, a memorable story
(09:13):
from the book that highlightsthat?
Bob Goff (09:16):
Well, yeah, here's the first thing about stories, and
it comes from Matthew 13.
It said that Jesus never spoketo anybody without telling him a
story or two.
And so when I am in faithgatherings and they want to tell
me about the four words inGreek for love, agape, phileo,
I'm just like I want to hurl.
I don't care.
It's not that I don't careabout scripture, I just would
(09:38):
care a lot more about somebodywho loved you well, somebody who
did something selfless,something that pursued you
without an agenda.
I'm like these are the stories.
That's why Jesus pointed tosheep.
He wasn't talking about wordsin Greek, he pointed to sheep
and he says it's like when oneof those gets away, and
everybody's like I know exactlywhat that feels like.
So, knowing about what it feelslike to lose hope or to lose
(10:04):
faith, I bet there's somebodystuck in traffic, not only
losing faith that they're goingto get somewhere on time, but
maybe they just have some bigquestions about their faith.
I love the honest conversationa dad had in Mark 9.
It's like I believe just helpme with all the parts.
I don't believe right now, andthat can be what it feels like.
And rather than having somebodygive me a Bible study about
(10:28):
belief and where it comes from.
And faith is confidence in whatyou're hoping for and assurance
of what you haven't seen fromHebrews.
I don't want to know all theBible verses they know.
What I want to do is have youtell me a story of when, a time,
you were in a similarcircumstance and what you
learned, and don't make it aboutyou.
Make it about them, right,because we make everything about
(10:48):
.
Well, I did this and then I didthis, and I did this In writing
books.
I allow myself one me, my or I,and everything else has to be
the words we, us or our.
So when you write your memoirs,file that away One me, my or I,
and then everything else is we,us and our, because people
don't want to see your vacationpictures and it was great, I'm
(11:13):
glad you went to Maui, that'sawesome, but with the person
said, hey, what was the lasttime that you felt like
bedazzled by someplace and likethat kind of conversation?
These are the reasons Jesustold stories.
He pointed to deep truths,eternal kinds of truths, and he
onboarded them with stories.
(11:33):
So that's the reason for thestories, and then the stories
that come to mind are just thateveryday things, for no
particular reason.
I was thinking yesterday aboutlearning how to fly an airplane,
and this isn't a 747.
It's just like a little Cessna,like barely had wings, and
(11:54):
those had duct tape on it.
Ellen Krause (11:56):
Oh dear.
Bob Goff (11:57):
It was a pretty lousy airplane, but you finally get to
the place where you do yoursolo.
It's like your first time andyou take off and you're all
alone and it's a little bitanxiety producing because it's,
you know, if you have somebodyin there that knows what they're
doing.
But flying solo and this, if Iwas telling that story I would
immediately talk about we allhave had that first time.
(12:20):
Right, there was a first foreverything.
I'd probably talk aboutRevelations 2.
The problem that he had is thatwe'd forgotten our first love.
So I would use a story toonboard a principle.
I would tie it to scripturebecause I'm a Bible verse guy
and yet, other than a devotionalwhich has Bible verses, the
(12:42):
other 10 books I've writtendon't have any Bible verses.
Isn't that awesome, because Iwrite books for the guy at the
tire store.
So Jesus was telling story forshepherds who actually had sheep
, and he talked about sheep theway shepherds.
He talked to people aboutlepers who were in a colony that
(13:03):
had lepers in them.
So what I want us to do is findthose relatable stories.
Well, even if you haven't flowna plane, you could probably
relate to this.
You don't want to hit the otherplane that's up in the air,
right, relatable, right.
And yet in our faithcommunities see we, us, our, yet
(13:25):
in our faith communities.
That's, we're colliding withopinions and we're colliding
with people's positions aboutthis and that, and we are
keeping our eyes fixed on Jesusfrom Hebrews 12.1.
Like what we're doing is we'recolliding with each other.
And so then I would go back tothe story and, as I got up, to
like altitude and level thewings, you look at everything
(13:47):
all at once and then you chunkit up, 10% of the sky at a time.
So look at this 10% to take areally hard look.
And what if you took a look atyour life during this time,
during this season of Adventthat we're in right now?
What if you looked at just 10%of your life?
Look at your faith, look atyour family, look at your
friends, look at your finances,everything with an F, you can
(14:09):
look at philanthropy if youcan't spell.
But to chunk it up a little bit.
And so, as I was looking throughthe window, 10% at a time, I
realized, oh my gosh, there's ahuge jet airliner out in the
distance and it seemed like wewere on a collision course
because we were both like he wasright in the center of the
window.
And so I'm no dummy, I was notfreaked out, but I was a little
(14:32):
mindful and so I said I'm goingto gain altitude.
So I went up 2000 feet andhere's the crazy part the other
guy went up 2000 feet.
We're still on this collisioncourse.
I'm like, oh yeah, and youcan't just like call the other
guy Like you're just, you're upthere and you just miss him.
So I turned to my left and as Iturned to my left he turned to
(14:57):
his right and it's a little bitbigger in the windscreen.
And so I thought, ok, don'tfreak out, just descend back to
where you were.
So we're down a couple thousandfeet.
I think he was thinking thesame thing, because he went down
2,000 feet and just as he wasgetting a little bit bigger, I
realized it's a bug on thewindow.
(15:23):
There's a deal like the thingsthat look really big and ominous
in our life they're usuallylittle things that we just got
really close to.
We got so close to them that wecouldn't see them for what they
were.
And so what Jesus did is healways told stories and he
always landed on an eternal kindof truth.
He gave them this idea, and sohe'll say you know, you've heard
(15:48):
it said, but now.
I say you've heard it said, butnow I say and you heard it said
, but now I say and so I thinkthe devotionals are a great
little tap on the shoulder toremember that maybe some of the
big stuff in front of you rightnow isn't so big, it's just that
it's right in front of you.
And front of you right now isn'tso big, it's just that it's
right in front of you and so itfeels big.
It's the only thing you can seeand you try to go above it.
(16:08):
You can't.
You go, try to go below it andthat doesn't work.
You try to miss it on the leftand the right and at some point
we just need to deal with it.
But we need to figure out whatit is before we deal with it.
Um, so if you're saying rightnow, like I'm feeling stressed
out, which is a common feelingfor a lot of people Just let's
tease it apart and say what areyou stressed out about?
Let's go through our Fs, faith,family fund finances, you know
(16:30):
whatever, maybe a Ferrari Justpaying the insurance on that
thing.
So what I want you to do isthat let's do a little bit of an
internal audit.
Jesus, you know, was asked topay tax and he told the guy to
go catch a fish and pull thecoin out.
Now we never know if heactually paid the coin over.
(16:52):
But I really like the idea oflike even Jesus was audited from
time to time, that there arepeople saying what are your
motives, what are yourintentions, what do you think?
And so to do that for ourselvesin a really beautiful, winsome
way and to get there throughstories, head on a swivel,
looking for Jesus and evidencethat he's still alive.
Ellen Krause (17:13):
Absolutely, you know.
That reminds me of the passagein scripture that talks about I
think it's maybe at the end ofJohn, where he says if they
would have written down all ofthe things Jesus have done,
there wouldn't have been enough,you know, room paper to write
it on.
Bob Goff (17:29):
I mean, that's one thing that I'm excited about.
Ellen Krause (17:30):
Heaven is to say, be curious, like all these
things that weren't written out,what was he doing, and the
stories he was telling, and howfun will that be to know someday
.
Bob Goff (17:40):
Well, I think too, having some humility.
There's a famous saying thatthere's two types of people in
the world humble people andpeople who are about to be.
So when somebody speaks to mewith absolute certainty about
pretty much any topic, then Ijust wonder if they've got
(18:02):
themselves convinced.
Certainly, but I just try tostay humble on those things
rather than feeling like I'vegot it nailed every time.
They can do what Paul said tocheck the scriptures.
But even then that verse I wastelling you about in Matthew 5,
like you've heard it said.
But now I say, because you'veheard it said is scripture.
(18:22):
And he said but now I saythat's scripture.
He said you've heard it said,now it's scripture.
And then now I say that'sscripture.
He said you've heard it said,now it's scripture.
And then now I say and so to,just because I'm a Bible verse
kind of guy, I really want tosearch the scriptures.
I want to actually know what ithas to say.
But I don't try to clobberpeople with it.
(18:42):
I don't say well, if youdisagree, here's three verses.
Because sometimes in our faithcommunities we're doing this
kind of wimpy jujitsu thing oneach other with Bible verses and
that's just so uninspiring andit's actually uninspiring for
the people who are involved aswell.
They don't care, they're justtrying to win an argument.
And I would say, if you want tojust argue with everybody, be a
(19:04):
lawyer.
I was for 30 years and then Ijust bailed.
I'm like I'm not doing this.
I'm not.
I'm not Jesus's lawyer anymore.
I'm not trying to win a bunchof arguments.
What I'm trying to do is befaithful to the things that he's
given me, and I'm just notthere yet.
I don that.
That is so refreshing for theworld to hear.
Instead of hearing what youthink you've got wired, hear
(19:25):
what you're still trying tofigure out.
Yeah, so instead of reachingour weak hand towards people
this weak hand which issometimes embellished with all
(19:49):
kinds of other things we thinkwe're certain about, to kind of
pretend we know more than weknow or that we have more game
than we have, just be humble.
Just say man, I'm trying tofigure that out too.
Just be more interested inwhere another person's at than
trying to convince them over towhere you're at.
Yeah, then that's actuallyreally good advocacy for a guy
(20:10):
who wins arguments for a living.
Ellen Krause (20:13):
I'm just saying Right, right, you know, Bob, I
thought one of the things and Iactually did a word check in
your devotional for the wordambition, because I noticed that
it kept coming up over and overagain, over 50 times in the
book, the word ambition, and youtalk about it, and it just
(20:38):
really did build an excitementwithin me.
Why is it important for us toidentify and go after our
ambitions?
Bob Goff (20:43):
Yeah, I know a lot of people that have great doctrine,
but it feels like theirtheology is a little weak and
I'm not pointing a bony fingerin their direction.
It's just like there's atheology of just loving people
the way Jesus did, and he neverasked one person to agree with
him.
He said if you believe thesethings, do it.
(21:04):
Galatians 5, 6,.
The only thing that matters isfaith expressed in love.
And then the crazy part is hedoesn't need our help.
I keep asking him every morningbut Jesus, what can I do for
you?
He's got a thing, he's got it.
But what we can do is, as anoutgrowth, an outflowing of what
we actually believe, you'll do,that you talk about the stuff
(21:26):
you love.
I love Dippin' Dots.
I love them.
I won't go a day or two withouttalking about Dippin' Dots.
I can't afford them, but I loveDippin' Dots.
Have you ever had those at themall?
Ellen Krause (21:36):
Yes, yes.
Bob Goff (21:37):
People who buy Dippin' Dots at the mall, like me,
maybe, like you, and we went tothe mall and we forgot what we
went to the mall for.
We didn't go to the mall fordip and dots, and so sometimes
people forget why they're here,that we get this period of time
and I just want to be helpful.
You know, when Jesus asked,summarize the whole thing the
(22:01):
way that he summarized it was tobe loving people that are just
adjacent to us, are justadjacent to us, and that takes
actually a level of ambitionBecause there's been in my youth
.
I didn't grow up in the church.
I didn't know anybody who wentto church.
I didn't know anybody whotalked about church.
I was in high school before Imet somebody who said faith was
(22:24):
a big deal for him and he wasactually a screw up.
He was all messed up, and themore I realized that it wasn't
this kind of buttoned down thing, that it was like there was
room for people who were messedup that had it wrong.
I mean, jesus' disciples werewith him for three years and
they didn't even know who he was.
You know, they thought he wasgoing to go in and conquer
(22:46):
Jerusalem and he's like oh, no,no, no, that's not how it works.
Can you find a donkey for me toride in on?
And they're like wait what?
And so, and one of thedisciples one of his own Sunday
school class members, you knowwent the other direction for him
.
And there's still thiscompassion.
(23:07):
Right, if I had one last mealto eat, I wouldn't have it with
a person I knew who would betrayme.
And yet I see that modeled andI've seen people who live a
really authentic, engaged faiththat they start doing things
that other people don'tunderstand, that they themselves
don't always understand.
(23:28):
People don't understand thatthey themselves don't always
understand.
And I think that is just reallyattractive to me to say that if
you're really that confidentthat God is who he said he was,
that you could start acting andinteracting with the world in a
different way, in a humble way,and then people will not meet
your opinions, they'll meetJesus, like they won't say
what's your position on?
(23:49):
Insert here the social issue ofthe day.
Not that they're unimportant,but compared to the things that
are important to me, they'reunimportant.
And so I just I don't wantpeople to like know us for what
we're against.
I want us to know us for whatwe do, what we engage, what we
embrace, what we're doing, uh,all the time knowing God doesn't
(24:11):
need our help, but it's anoutflow.
It's like me talking aboutDippin' Dots have I mentioned
that again?
And like if somebody says youknow I was at work and I
mentioned Jesus at the waterfountain and you know, I really
think it's taken hold.
This isn't a secret handshakekind of thing, that's not.
That works.
It's like what you do is, Iwould assume, just know where
(24:34):
you're at in your faith, becauseyou're just living a life
that's extraordinary.
They saw their courage and theyknew they'd been with Jesus
without Peter and John saying aword.
I love Matthew 16, the SimonPeter moment.
He says you know who does?
Everybody say I am, and uh, andSimon Peter reported back that
you know, some say you're ateacher, and he actually was an
(24:57):
awesome teacher and he saidothers say a prophet, he was all
of that too.
But then Simon Peter says but Ithink you're God.
And then Jesus responds to himDon't tell anybody.
What was the mind of all myevangelical friends, and I think
the next verse really clarifiesit it's flesh and blood.
(25:18):
Doesn't reveal this to you.
It'll be the spirit of God sowe don't lead people to Jesus.
Jesus leads people to Jesus andI can get on board with that
Like.
I just want to do my part, mypart love people, jesus's part,
letting people know who he is,and that doesn't go in wimpy on
(25:39):
taking bold things.
You know that verse in Peter,to always be ready to make a
defense for the hope that'swithin you.
It's almost like everybodywants to lawyer up and then they
stop reading there and theydon't continue in the sentence
and say but do it with kindnessand respect.
And I just sometimes we missthe kindness and respect part.
So I want to, for my dyslexicfriends like to like, let's
(26:01):
start with that.
Read the verse backwards.
Ellen Krause (26:04):
Right.
Bob Goff (26:05):
You know what, if we start with kindness and respect
and then maybe tap the brakes onbeing Jesus's lawyer?
Ellen Krause (26:13):
Love that, Bob.
I feel like you know when wechase after our ambitions, like
sometimes that can be scary,depending you know on what that
is for you in particular, itrequires faith, you in
particular.
It requires faith, and I liketo think of it as it requires so
much faith that you see how itcouldn't have been possible
(26:35):
without God, and that's where Ifeel like God's really shown up
big in my life.
Bob Goff (26:44):
Yeah, I get that that whole idea of having ambitions
is.
It requires you to take thispersonal assessment of yourself
to say, hey, what really am Iwanting to be about?
What do I want to do, andwhat's these things that we do
right?
These activities, thesedifferent things that we, the
(27:16):
way we interact with the world,and those are usually tied to
emotions.
So if a behavior, for instance,is that you're really short
with people or curt, it's tiedto an emotion, and the emotion
is oftentimes insecurity or itcould be the emotion of anger,
and so then the behavior isbeing really short with people
and that emotion is usually tiedto an unmet need.
(27:38):
So there's an unmet need whichis for love and acceptance and
all that, and so you walk arounda little bit angry because
you're not getting what youactually need, which is love and
acceptance.
And then the way that thatworks itself out in a behavior
is that you're short and curtwith people.
So I think, spending a littlebit of time in our faith
communities to just say, hey,why are we doing what we're
(28:00):
doing?
And a lot of the things thatwe're doing are motivated by
either fear or love, and so noteverything, but I would say 90%
or more, and so it's a like.
So why do you work?
I say, well, like fear that Iwouldn't have a place to live.
If I did, I couldn't make rent.
Or you say I do because I loveit.
(28:22):
So there might be other mixedreasons for people.
But oftentimes if you do alittle bit of an audit, like, am
I doing this out of fear orlove?
Another really compellingemotion is the desire for
acceptance.
So sometimes we do thingsbecause we want to be accepted
into community.
(28:42):
We speak a certain way, we usewords that we don't really
normal people don't use thosewords, but we adopt them because
we want to identify with agroup of people that uses that
kind of language.
Like here in San Diego, peoplesay dude all the time, like dude
, that was so good or whatever.
How many people in Illinois saydude?
Ellen Krause (29:03):
Not a lot Many, I'm sure.
Bob Goff (29:05):
Yeah, right.
And then in the PacificNortheast it's wicked like
wicked cheesy, like the Cheetosare wicked cheesy literally says
it on there.
Not wicked like evil, it's justlike very right.
So people say we start adoptingpeople's words and when I'm in
the South I start saying y'all.
And nobody in San Diego saysy'all.
(29:29):
But I start doing it becauseit's not a desire for acceptance
, it's just I'm around it somuch I start doing it.
And so what if the language thatwe use in our faith communities
was around acceptance and loveand faithfulness to Scripture?
You don't have to say theScripture every time, but you
could be thinking where thatfits, and not to win a trivial
(29:52):
pursuit or a Bible quiz, butthat you know where that is and
you know that's true.
And so then, when other stuffcomes your way this is the
beginning of Galatians, that ifsomebody comes and preaches a
new gospel or a different one,then run out of the room Because
you need to know what theoriginal was, is, so you'll know
this is a different one thenrun out of the room because you
need to know what the originalwas, is, so you'll know this is
(30:13):
a different one.
And so what?
I would say not as a cautionarytale, but if faith guides your
steps, then I would say, spendsome time noodling around like
figuring out when a questioncomes up about dating or romance
or workplace or whatever.
John six nine it says thatdisciples are saying like so,
what's our work?
(30:34):
Like, what are we supposed todo?
And I get that question all thetime.
I'm supposed to be a lawyer, adoctor, a plumber, what's my
work?
And Jesus response was yourwork is believe in the one God
sent, and so that kind of gutsit.
In a way.
It's almost like you said and Idon't care.
I don't think he wants usknocking off liquor stores, but
I think what he cares about isour hearts, and what we do for a
(30:57):
day job is almost irrelevant.
Just whatever you do out ofPhilippians, do it like you were
doing it for me.
So I love that idea.
If we were dancing through thescriptures and knew them.
Whether you feel like you havea good memory for the scriptures
or not, you can just say Iremember there's a verse
somewhere that says which isawesome, it's not a game show,
(31:18):
but just to know where thatanchor is.
Otherwise, tony Robbins isgoing to have as much voice in
your life as Jesus Christ willand Tony's a great guy, but
Jesus is better.
Ellen Krause (31:30):
Agree, agree.
Well, bob, as we start to kindof wrap things up, what do you
hope readers are going to takeaway from their experience of
going through this 365 dayjourney?
What can they look forward to?
Bob Goff (31:56):
is their stories.
I hope they won't see mine.
I hope what they'll see is thisinvitation to this beautiful
life that God has invited themto.
I hope they'll see each day asthis opportunity to like kind of
dig in, to do a little bit,push out a little bit deeper.
That's the 38 miracles thatJesus did.
That's the fifth one, and Jesusinvited them to these guys to
push out a little bit deeper.
(32:17):
And they thought it was a badidea.
They thought it was stupid.
They'd been fishing all night.
But the verse after that saysthey did it anyway.
So that would be my hope thatpeople would read these pages
each day.
They'd get a tap on theshoulder, not a pointy uh finger
pointed in their face, but justtap on the shoulder to remember
(32:39):
why we're doing what we'redoing and then be encouraged to
just give people a little bitmore slack.
When people do something superlame, I, just when people do
something lame, I picture alittle thought bubble over their
head, uh and uh.
In the thought bubble the wordsare I'm being really helpful
right now, even though they'renot at all, but most people
(33:03):
aren't trying to be disruptive.
They think they're actuallybeing helpful.
They'll comment on somethingyou said or they'll get your
grill about something In theirmind, they're being super
helpful.
Get your grill about somethingin their mind, they're being
super helpful.
We've got a uh, these scottishhighland cattle out at a retreat
center.
I've got, and uh and uh, theydropped a new one off.
And uh, and I asked the guythat dropped it off is your cow
(33:26):
nice?
Because we have people therefor equine therapy and all that.
They just need that.
Their life has been hard, theyjust need to pet a nice cow.
And he said she's so nice andwent on and on and so I jumped
into the pen and it gored me.
Oh, it's like I told him.
I thought she said your cow wasnice and I'll never forget.
(33:47):
He said she don't know she hashorns.
I'm like every mother-in-lawjoke right there.
So that whole idea that somepeople just don't know they have
horns, that cow thought she wasnuzzling me when she was goring
me, and so people that arehurting you think they're being
helpful to you.
And so what we need to do ishave the maturity and the
(34:08):
confidence in our faith,informed by our failures and our
successes, but to walk intothat situation and see a thought
bubble that says I'm beingreally helpful right now, and
then you don't need to give themairtime because what they did
is super lame, so just move on.
Talk about sports.
I would.
I don't care, I just changedthe subject.
Ellen Krause (34:32):
Oh well, bob, after going through many of your
devotionals, I can assurepeople that they will be so, so
encouraged.
Where can they go to find outmore information about you and
your book?
Bob Goff (34:46):
Yeah, I'm a pretty easy guy to track down.
I put my cell phone number inthe back of three million books,
isn't that awesome?
I can't get a thing done.
I get so many phone calls of 3million books Isn't that awesome
?
I can't get a thing done.
I just thought Jesus wasavailable to everybody.
And you have somebody thatwrites a country Western song
about a big old truck or a bigold dog and then people like it
and they're not availableanymore.
Or somebody gets a bit part ina movie and they're not
(35:08):
available.
They have keepers and cupbearers and all that.
And Jesus just said you know 12misfits.
I don't even have 12 people, Ijust have a cell phone.
So I'm a pretty easy guy toreach.
Just type in Bob Goff somewhereand you'll find me.
Ellen Krause (35:25):
Excellent.
Okay, well, we will make surewe have links in our show notes
as well for people.
Before we go, though, I have toask you some of our favorite
Bible study tool questions.
What Bible is your go-to Bible,and which translation is it?
Bob Goff (35:39):
Oh, JB Phillips.
It's the.
They call it the cookbook Bible, and JB Phillips was a pastor
at a church in the UK at thetime.
In World War II they'redropping bombs and the only
authorized version of thescripture was the King James and
none of the kids in his classunderstood all the these and
(35:59):
thous.
So he sat in a bunker when allthe bombs were dropping and he
wrote the first living Bible andit's called the JB Phillips
Bible for Schools and they putit in every single school in the
country.
Isn't that awesome.
I love that.
That's my cookbook Bible.
Ellen Krause (36:13):
Oh cool, isn't that awesome.
I love that.
That's my cookbook Bible.
Oh cool.
Okay, bob, do you have anyfavorite journaling supplies or
anything that you like to use toenhance your Bible?
Bob Goff (36:22):
study experience.
Pen and paper I send myself,and an iPhone.
I send myself about 150 emailsa day.
Isn't that crazy?
I get home, I'm like him again,block, but I will encounter
people and circumstances andthoughts and little shards of
ideas and I send myselfimmediately a, an email about it
(36:44):
and then get this.
I stopped having quiet timesprobably 30 years ago.
Mine are super loud.
What I'll do is I'll takeeverything that I sent myself
the day before and I'll check itagainst scripture.
I'll just so in the mornings Imean it is loud, it is raucous
because I'm trying to likereally engage this stuff and so
um.
So that's the pattern for me.
(37:06):
Yeah, I don't write it on gumwrappers.
I send myself emails and thenthe next morning I just get
rowdy and like just say, like,let's figure out if this is true
.
If it doesn't square withscripture, I just don't put it
in the next book, and if it does, then I might.
Ellen Krause (37:20):
Okay, excellent, okay.
Lastly, what's your favoriteapp or website for Bible study
tools?
Bob Goff (37:27):
You know, I just really like Google.
I think if I'm trying to findsomething, I literally I just
put a Google, the first cointhat was ever minted in the
United States.
On the one side it said we areone from John 17.
Isn't that awesome.
And on the backside of thatcoin it says mind your business,
keep that in mind.
(37:51):
So, like that whole idea, likeso, uh, what will stick with me
is that idea something reallyinteresting.
I'm not a coin collector, uh,but I got a hold of that coin,
uh, and I think there's justsomething beautiful like these
reminders.
Constantly I wear a mickeymouse watch I.
You know, I walk into roomsevery once in a while where
(38:12):
nobody's smiling, becausethere's like a lot of conflict
in the air and I'm like me andyou, buddy, oh boy, smiling, I'm
smiling.
So for a tool, I think I justuse Google so much to just get
right to it, to get to theinteresting stuff, because I
don't want to talk about thestuff that I've already talked
about.
I was in oh what's that placethat has a real bad water system
(38:36):
Flint, michigan.
I was in Flint and it was thespringtime and I walked out my
hotel room and all the roads hadbeen salted and I'm like, dude,
it's like 70.
Why have you salted the roadsand get this?
They get their salt next yearbased on how much they use up
this year, and it was a reallylight winter, so they started
(38:57):
salting the roads, even thoughthey didn't need to.
I'm like, oh, that'll preach.
So what I'm trying to do whenit comes to a Bible study or
Bible app, to go a little bitdeeper, keeping in mind that
John 13 telling stories to findinteresting things that bring me
to the feet of Jesus, bring meback to the scriptures.
Ellen Krause (39:17):
That's beautiful, Bob.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us today, for
encouraging us, you bet, and Ijust I really appreciate your
sense of humor, your curiosityand just the way that you will
definitely inspire people ifthey choose to pick up your book
, which I highly encourage.
Bob Goff (39:38):
Yeah, or you can wait for a while and get it for a
nickel at a used bookstore.
Either way, whatever it is thatencourages people, just keep
doing that.
Ellen Krause (39:47):
Absolutely All right.
Well, we just want to let ourlisteners know we appreciate you
.
We thank you so much forlistening.
Have a blessed day.
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