Living with Curiosity and Faith w/ Bob Goff

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

Use code POD2025Q1-Q2 to get 3 months free when you download and register for the Glorify app!

If you are a Christian woman seeking to know God deeper, study Scriptures, pray with and for others, strengthen your faith, and support other in doing the same, this is the place for you! 

Chapters

• 0:04 Pursuing Meaningful Life With Bob Goff
• 11:59 Navigating Life Through Stories and Faith
• 19:15 Embracing Humility and Pursuing Ambition
• 25:16 Living Out Faith With Boldness
• 36:33 Engaging With Bob Goff's Insights
• 41:02 Exploring Deeper Faith With Bob Goff

Transcript

Ellen Krause: 0:04

At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast. Our goal is to help you delight in God's Word and thrive in Christian living. Each week we talk to subject matter experts who broaden your biblical understanding, encourage you in hard times and provide life-building tips to enhance your Christian walk. We are so glad you have joined us. Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast. This is Ellen, your host.

Ellen Krause: 0:35

Life can often feel mundane and predictable, like we're stuck in endless cycles of planning and uncertainty, especially this time of year. It's easy to lose our sense of wonder and joy when the weight of responsibilities and unknowns press in Well. In this episode, my guest Bob Goff and I are going to discuss what it means to pursue a more meaningful life. Bob will also discuss his new devotional Catching Whimsy 365 Days of Possibility. In it, he invites us on a year-long journey of discovering curiosity, joy and the incredible possibilities God has placed in our everyday lives. Bob's reflections will show us how to start seeing God's immense love in the small moments. Let go of over planning and embrace spontaneity. Life can feel heavy and monotonous. When we ignore these opportunities for joy and whimsy, we risk missing out on the beauty of God's presence in the ordinary and the extraordinary alike. So let's choose to approach today with an expectant heart.

Ellen Krause: 1:48

Bob Goff is the New York Times bestselling author of Love. Does Everybody Always Dream Big and many more. He loves balloons, cake pops and helping people pursue their big dreams. Bob's greatest ambitions are to love others, do stuff and, most importantly, hold hands with his wife, sweet Maria, and spend time with their amazing family. Please welcome Bob. Hey there, welcome Bob. I'm so glad and excited for you to be joining us today and I have to say your message is so encouraging. I feel like you know so many people right now are just feeling weighed down and I'm curious about what inspired you to write Catching Whimsy and how you feel that will impact others.

Bob Goff: 2:44

Yeah, I want people to get a tap on the shoulder and remember. Sometimes what we do is we forget stuff along the way. It's just natural, and the older I get, the more I forget. But even people in their 20s are forgetting how God has shown up, and I love in the scriptures how people's heads were on a swivel. They were looking for where God showed up Acts 1-1, theophilus, lover of God, look for many convincing proofs that Jesus is still alive. These are people that had their head turning and they're wondering what was happening. They weren't making it up and they weren't seeing cloud formations that look like John the Baptist. They were instead engaged in seeing the movement of God in people's ordinary lives. There's a great verse it's Acts 4.13, and it says that they saw Peter and John and they knew they were just unschooled, they're ordinary guys, but they saw their courage and they knew they'd been with Jesus.

Bob Goff: 3:40

What I want to do is, in words, remind people, just be a tap on the shoulder to say, hey, get out there, he's everywhere, he's doing stuff, and I know we all face really difficult times. You know, I don't know anybody who's exempt. I know people who are oblivious, but I don't know anybody who's exempt. And so when we have these difficulties, what do you do with them? And certainly you grieve when sad things happen, but then if faith guides your steps.

Bob Goff: 4:11

Again it's Romans 8, this idea that suffering produces endurance, endurance, character and character turns into hope. And I'm kind of a type A guy so I want to go straight to hope. But I need to realize that suffering turns into endurance, turns into character, turns into hope. And so for people who are right now going through a hard time, to just it's not putting a happy face on it, it's just remembering that this is the pattern and remember how that's been in the pattern in the past. Do you know? In the scriptures, the idea remember is in there 8,670 times. I didn't count, but Wikipedia wouldn't lie to me. This whole idea of remembering is what devotionals are about. It's a great opportunity to kind of remember how God showed up, how we get to respond. Yeah, that's what I want to do. I want to just spend a lot of time remembering.

Ellen Krause: 5:06

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 to create this remembrance and remembering to tell the next generation.

Bob Goff: 5:21

Totally.

Ellen Krause: 5:23

So Bob, tell us what the role of curiosity is in this process and what does that look like in our daily lives?

Bob Goff: 5:33

Well, you know, if somebody has to define it for you, then you're not a curious person. If you're thinking like you're listening to this, you're stuck in traffic and you're going like I just wonder what curiosity is? I think most of us would be curious why am I stuck in traffic? This is a highway, we're supposed to be moving along, and so sometimes we can just be responding and reacting to whatever's going on around us and ricocheting off all the people and all that. But and again, you don't need a Bible verse for everything, but sometimes it's a great little anchor.

Bob Goff: 6:08

Philippians 2.20,. It's Paul talking about his buddy Timothy. He said I don't have anybody like Timothy. He's a guy who takes a genuine interest, insert curiosity about everybody. And so I think the people that are unschooled and ordinary like us I don't care if you have your PhD, you're a lot more ordinary than you think. What you've got is extraordinary, but you're still ordinary. And so what I want to do is to say okay, so, given that we're all kind of walking with a limp, can we stay curious, not just about what's going around us and the traffic jam that we're in and what the cause was, but to think there's probably somebody wrapped around a tree in front of us and to take a genuine interest in them, instead of saying hey, I'm getting late or I'm inconvenienced. Think like somebody's going to get you know, head to heaven or have some real lot of metal damage to fix. And so I think that would be the distinction to just like lift your eyes from what's going on in our small world. And we're born to be thinking about our needs, right? You're a little baby, just like Jesus arrived, and you know you wet your diaper. And you're thinking I'm kind of uncomfortable right now. And you know you wet your diaper and you're thinking I'm kind of uncomfortable right now. And you're like you're 65 and maybe the same thing's happening, but you're thinking like it's too hot, it's too cold, it's too stressful, the crowds are too big. And I want us to lift our eyes and think about, like, what are some lasting things here? I want to remember those lasting things. And again, that's the reason for writing a devotional, because I want to remember those lasting things.

Bob Goff: 7:47

And again, that's the reason for writing a devotional, because I want to not talk about the petty stuff anymore. We're spending just a weird amount of time. If you ever hear me talk about sports. Nothing wrong with sports, I've just my only sport is cheesecake. But if you talk about all the petty stuff and never get to the real stuff and I'm not saying sports is great if that blows your hair back, but let's make sure we talk about who's the second baseman and then also what's going on in your life. What's keeping you from hitting a home run? What? What is it that last time you got beamed by a ball? Like let's talk about where the pain points are as well and then talk about what's going right. We don't just be Eeyore and just talk about what's wrong. It's a cloudy day, but that's why I live in San Diego. Like a bad day is 72 and Sunday.

Ellen Krause: 8:32

Oh boy, I can't relate.

Bob Goff: 8:35

You can influence some of your circumstances by changing your viewpoint, and you can also change your location. You can literally. If you're over Illinois, then come on out here. You won't like the house prices, but you'll love the weather.

Ellen Krause: 8:53

Yeah, I'm quite sure of that, Bob. One of the great things that you do in this devotional is that you use so many stories to really bring to life the message that you're trying to convey. Do you have an example of this curiosity, a memorable story from the book that highlights that?

Bob Goff: 11:17

Well, yeah, here's the first thing about stories, and it comes from Matthew 13. It said that Jesus never spoke to anybody without telling him a story or two. And so when I am in faith gatherings and they want to tell me about the four words in Greek for love, agape, phileo, I'm just like I want to hurl. I don't care. It's not that I don't care about scripture, I just would care a lot more about somebody who 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 to sheep. He wasn't talking about words in Greek, he pointed to sheep and he says it's like when one of those gets away, and everybody's like I know exactly what that feels like. So, knowing about what it feels like to lose hope or to lose faith, I bet there's somebody stuck in traffic, not only losing faith that they're going to get somewhere on time, but maybe they just have some big questions about their faith. I love the honest conversation a dad had in Mark 9. It's like I believe just help me with all the parts. I don't believe right now, and that can be what it feels like. And rather than having somebody give me a Bible study about belief and where it comes from. And faith is confidence in what you're hoping for and assurance of what you haven't seen from Hebrews.

Bob Goff: 12:37

I don't want to know all the Bible verses they know. What I want to do is have you tell me a story of when, a time, you were in a similar circumstance and what you learned, and don't make it about you. Make it about them, right, because we make everything about. Well, I did this and then I did this, and I did this In writing books.

Bob Goff: 12:55

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 vacation pictures and it was great, I'm glad you went to Maui, that's awesome, but with the person said, hey, what was the last time that you felt like bedazzled by someplace and like that kind of conversation? These are the reasons Jesus told stories. He pointed to deep truths, eternal kinds of truths, and he onboarded them with stories. So that's the reason for the stories, and then the stories that come to mind are just that everyday things, for no particular reason. I was thinking yesterday about learning how to fly an airplane, and this isn't a 747. It's just like a little Cessna, like barely had wings, and those had duct tape on it.

Ellen Krause: 13:58

Oh dear.

Bob Goff: 13:59

It was a pretty lousy airplane, but you finally get to the place where you do your solo.

Bob Goff: 14:05

It's like your first time and you take off and you're all alone and it's a little bit anxiety producing because it's, you know, if you have somebody in there that knows what they're doing. But flying solo and this, if I was telling that story I would immediately talk about we all have had that first time. Right, there was a first for everything. I'd probably talk about Revelations 2. The problem that he had is that we'd forgotten our first love. So I would use a story to onboard a principle. I would tie it to scripture because I'm a Bible verse guy and yet, other than a devotional which has Bible verses, the other 10 books I've written don't have any Bible verses. Isn't that awesome, because I write books for the guy at the tire store. So Jesus was telling story for shepherds who actually had sheep, and he talked about sheep the way shepherds. He talked to people about lepers who were in a colony that had lepers in them. So what I want us to do is find those relatable stories. Well, even if you haven't flown a plane, you could probably relate to this. You don't want to hit the other plane that's up in the air, right, relatable, right. And yet in our faith communities see we, us, our, yet in our faith communities. That's, we're colliding with opinions and we're colliding with people's positions about this and that, and we are keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus from Hebrews 12.1. Like what we're doing is we're colliding with each other. And so then I would go back to the story and, as I got up, to like altitude and level the wings, you look at everything all at once and then you chunk it up, 10% of the sky at a time. So look at this 10% to take a really hard look. And what if you took a look at your life during this time, during this season of Advent that we're in right now? What if you looked at just 10% of your life? Look at your faith, look at your family, look at your friends, look at your finances, everything with an F, you can look at philanthropy if you can't spell. But to chunk it up a little bit.

Bob Goff: 16:15

And so, as I was looking through the window, 10% at a time, I realized, oh my gosh, there's a huge jet airliner out in the distance and it seemed like we were on a collision course because we were both like he was right in the center of the window. And so I'm no dummy, I was not freaked out, but I was a little mindful and so I said I'm going to gain altitude. So I went up 2000 feet and here's the crazy part the other guy went up 2000 feet. We're still on this collision course. I'm like, oh yeah, and you can't just like call the other guy Like you're just, you're up there and you just miss him. So I turned to my left and as I turned to my left he turned to his right and it's a little bit bigger in the windscreen. And so I thought, ok, don't freak out, just descend back to where you were. So we're down a couple thousand feet. I think he was thinking the same thing, because he went down 2,000 feet and just as he was getting a little bit bigger, I realized it's a bug on the window.

Bob Goff: 17:25

There's a deal like the things that look really big and ominous in our life they're usually little things that we just got really close to. We got so close to them that we couldn't see them for what they were. And so what Jesus did is he always told stories and he always landed on an eternal kind of truth. He gave them this idea, and so he'll say you know, you've heard it said, but now. I say you've heard it said, but now I say and you heard it said, but now I say and so I think the devotionals are a great little tap on the shoulder to remember that maybe some of the big stuff in front of you right now isn't so big, it's just that it's right in front of you.

Bob Goff: 18:05

And front of you right now isn't so big, it's just that it's right in front of you and so it feels big. It's the only thing you can see and you try to go above it. You can't. You go, try to go below it and that doesn't work. You try to miss it on the left and the right and at some point we just need to deal with it. But we need to figure out what it is before we deal with it.

Bob Goff: 18:19

Um, so if you're saying right now, like I'm feeling stressed out, which is a common feeling for a lot of people Just let's tease it apart and say what are you stressed out about? Let's go through our Fs, faith, family fund finances, you know whatever, maybe a Ferrari Just paying the insurance on that thing. So what I want you to do is that let's do a little bit of an internal audit. Jesus, you know, was asked to pay tax and he told the guy to go catch a fish and pull the coin out. Now we never know if he actually paid the coin over. But I really like the idea of like even Jesus was audited from time to time, that there are people saying what are your motives, what are your intentions, what do you think? And so to do that for ourselves in a really beautiful, winsome way and to get there through stories, head on a swivel, looking for Jesus and evidence that he's still alive.

Ellen Krause: 19:14

Absolutely, you know. That reminds me of the passage in scripture that talks about I think it's maybe at the end of John, where he says if they would have written down all of the things Jesus have done, there wouldn't have been enough, you know, room paper to write it on.

Bob Goff: 19:30

I mean, that's one thing that I'm excited about.

Ellen Krause: 19:32

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 how fun will that be to know someday.

Bob Goff: 19:42

Well, I think too, having some humility. There's a famous saying that there's two types of people in the world humble people and people who are about to be. So when somebody speaks to me with absolute certainty about pretty much any topic, then I just wonder if they've got themselves convinced. Certainly, but I just try to stay humble on those things rather than feeling like I've got it nailed every time. They can do what Paul said to check the scriptures. But even then that verse I was telling you about in Matthew 5, like you've heard it said. But now I say, because you've heard it said is scripture. And he said but now I say that's scripture. He said you've heard it said, now it's scripture. And then now I say that's scripture. 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 to search the scriptures. I want to actually know what it has to say. But I don't try to clobber people with it. I don't say well, if you disagree, here's three verses.

Bob Goff: 20:46

Because sometimes in our faith communities we're doing this kind of wimpy jujitsu thing on each other with Bible verses and that's just so uninspiring and it's actually uninspiring for the people who are involved as well. They don't care, they're just trying to win an argument. And I would say, if you want to just argue with everybody, be a lawyer. I was for 30 years and then I just bailed. I'm like I'm not doing this. I'm not.

Bob Goff: 21:11

I'm not Jesus's lawyer anymore. I'm not trying to win a bunch of arguments. What I'm trying to do is be faithful to the things that he's given me, and I'm just not there yet. I don that. That is so refreshing for the world to hear. Instead of hearing what you think you've got wired, hear what you're still trying to figure out. Yeah, so instead of reaching our weak hand towards people this weak hand which is sometimes embellished with all kinds of other things we think we're certain about, to kind of pretend we know more than we know or that we have more game than we have, just be humble. Just say man, I'm trying to figure that out too. Just be more interested in where another person's at than trying to convince them over to where you're at.

Bob Goff: 22:09

Yeah, then that's actually really good advocacy for a guy who wins arguments for a living.

Ellen Krause: 22:15

I'm just saying Right, right, you know, Bob, I thought one of the things and I actually did a word check in your devotional for the word ambition, because I noticed that it kept coming up over and over again, over 50 times in the book, the word ambition, and you talk about it, and it just really did build an excitement within me. Why is it important for us to identify and go after our ambitions?

Bob Goff: 22:45

Yeah, I know a lot of people that have great doctrine, but it feels like their theology is a little weak and I'm not pointing a bony finger in their direction. It's just like there's a theology of just loving people the way Jesus did, and he never asked one person to agree with him. He said if you believe these things, do it. Galatians 5, 6,. The only thing that matters is faith expressed in love. And then the crazy part is he doesn't need our help. I keep asking him every morning but Jesus, what can I do for you? He's got a thing, he's got it. But what we can do is, as an outgrowth, an outflowing of what we actually believe, you'll do, that you talk about the stuff you love. I love Dippin' Dots. I love them. I won't go a day or two without talking about Dippin' Dots. I can't afford them, but I love Dippin' Dots. Have you ever had those at the mall?

Ellen Krause: 23:38

Yes, yes.

Bob Goff: 23:39

People who buy Dippin' Dots at the mall, like me, maybe, like you, and we went to the mall and we forgot what we went to the mall for. We didn't go to the mall for dip 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 way that he summarized it was to be loving people that are just adjacent to us, are just adjacent to us, and that takes actually a level of ambition Because there's been in my youth. I didn't grow up in the church. I didn't know anybody who went to church. I didn't know anybody who talked about church. I was in high school before I met somebody who said faith was a big deal for him and he was actually a screw up. He was all messed up, and the more I realized that it wasn't this kind of buttoned down thing, that it was like there was room for people who were messed up that had it wrong. I mean, jesus' disciples were with him for three years and they didn't even know who he was. You know, they thought he was going to go in and conquer Jerusalem and he's like oh, no, no, no, that's not how it works. Can you find a donkey for me to ride in on? And they're like wait what? And so, and one of the disciples one of his own Sunday school class members, you know went the other direction for him. And there's still this compassion. Right, if I had one last meal to eat, I wouldn't have it with a person I knew who would betray me. And yet I see that modeled and I've seen people who live a really authentic, engaged faith that they start doing things that other people don't understand, that they themselves don't always understand. People don't understand that they themselves don't always understand. And I think that is just really attractive to me to say that if you're really that confident that God is who he said he was, that you could start acting and interacting with the world in a different way, in a humble way, and then people will not meet your opinions, they'll meet Jesus, like they won't say what's your position on? Insert here the social issue of the day. Not that they're unimportant, but compared to the things that are important to me, they're unimportant. And so I just I don't want people to like know us for what we're against. I want us to know us for what we do, what we engage, what we embrace, what we're doing, uh, all the time knowing God doesn't need our help, but it's an outflow. It's like me talking about Dippin' Dots have I mentioned that again? And like if somebody says you know I was at work and I mentioned Jesus at the water fountain and you know, I really think it's taken hold. This isn't a secret handshake kind of thing, that's not. That works. It's like what you do is, I would assume, just know where you're at in your faith, because you're just living a life that's extraordinary. They saw their courage and they knew they'd been with Jesus without Peter and John saying a word.

Bob Goff: 26:48

I love Matthew 16, the Simon Peter moment. He says you know who does? Everybody say I am, and uh, and Simon Peter reported back that you know, some say you're a teacher, and he actually was an awesome teacher and he said others say a prophet, he was all of that too. But then Simon Peter says but I think you're God. And then Jesus responds to him Don't tell anybody.

Bob Goff: 27:16

What was the mind of all my evangelical friends, and I think the next verse really clarifies it it's flesh and blood. Doesn't reveal this to you. It'll be the spirit of God so we don't lead people to Jesus. Jesus leads people to Jesus and I can get on board with that Like. I just want to do my part, my part love people, jesus's part, letting people know who he is, and that doesn't go in wimpy on taking bold things. You know that verse in Peter, to always be ready to make a defense for the hope that's within you. It's almost like everybody wants to lawyer up and then they stop reading there and they don't continue in the sentence and say but do it with kindness and respect. And I just sometimes we miss the kindness and respect part. So I want to, for my dyslexic friends like to like, let's start with that. Read the verse backwards.

Ellen Krause: 28:05

Right.

Bob Goff: 28:07

You know what, if we start with kindness and respect and then maybe tap the brakes on being Jesus's lawyer?

Ellen Krause: 28:15

Love that, Bob. I feel like you know when we chase after our ambitions, like sometimes that can be scary, depending you know on what that is for you in particular, it requires faith, you in particular. It requires faith, and I like to think of it as it requires so much faith that you see how it couldn't have been possible without God, and that's where I feel like God's really shown up big in my life.

Bob Goff: 28:46

Yeah, I get that that whole idea of having ambitions is. It requires you to take this personal assessment of yourself to say, hey, what really am I wanting to be about? What do I want to do, and what's these things that we do right? These activities, these different things that we, the 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 tied to an emotion, and the emotion is oftentimes insecurity or it could be the emotion of anger, and so then the behavior is being really short with people and that emotion is usually tied to an unmet need. So there's an unmet need which is for love and acceptance and all that, and so you walk around a little bit angry because you're not getting what you actually need, which is love and acceptance. And then the way that that works itself out in a behavior is that you're short and curt with people. So I think, spending a little bit of time in our faith communities to just say, hey, why are we doing what we're doing? And a lot of the things that we're doing are motivated by either fear or love, and so not everything, but I would say 90% or more, and so it's a like. So why do you work? I say, well, like fear that I wouldn't have a place to live. If I did, I couldn't make rent. Or you say I do because I love it. So there might be other mixed reasons for people. But oftentimes if you do a little bit of an audit, like, am I doing this out of fear or love?

Bob Goff: 30:33

Another really compelling emotion is the desire for acceptance. So sometimes we do things because we want to be accepted into community. We speak a certain way, we use words that we don't really normal people don't use those words, but we adopt them because we want to identify with a group of people that uses that kind of language. Like here in San Diego, people say dude all the time, like dude, that was so good or whatever. How many people in Illinois say dude?

Ellen Krause: 31:05

Not a lot Many, I'm sure.

Bob Goff: 31:07

Yeah, right. And then in the Pacific Northeast it's wicked like wicked cheesy, like the Cheetos are wicked cheesy literally says it on there. Not wicked like evil, it's just like very right. So people say we start adopting people's words and when I'm in the South I start saying y'all. And nobody in San Diego says y'all. But I start doing it because it's not a desire for acceptance, it's just I'm around it so much I start doing it.

Bob Goff: 31:37

And so what if the language that we use in our faith communities was around acceptance and love and faithfulness to Scripture? You don't have to say the Scripture every time, but you could be thinking where that fits, and not to win a trivial pursuit or a Bible quiz, but that you know where that is and you know that's true. And so then, when other stuff comes your way this is the beginning of Galatians, that if somebody comes and preaches a new gospel or a different one, then run out of the room Because you need to know what the original was, is, so you'll know this is a different one then run out of the room because you need to know what the original was, is, so you'll know this is a different one. And so what? I would say not as a cautionary tale, but if faith guides your steps, then I would say, spend some time noodling around like figuring out when a question comes up about dating or romance or workplace or whatever.

Bob Goff: 32:31

John six nine it says that disciples are saying like so, what's our work? Like, what are we supposed to do? And I get that question all the time. I'm supposed to be a lawyer, a doctor, a plumber, what's my work? And Jesus response was your work is believe in the one God sent, and so that kind of guts it.

Bob Goff: 32:49

In a way. It's almost like you said and I don't care. I don't think he wants us knocking off liquor stores, but I think what he cares about is our hearts, and what we do for a day job is almost irrelevant. Just whatever you do out of Philippians, do it like you were doing it for me. So I love that idea. If we were dancing through the scriptures and knew them. Whether you feel like you have a good memory for the scriptures or not, you can just say I remember there's a verse somewhere that says which is awesome, it's not a game show, but just to know where that anchor is. Otherwise, tony Robbins is going to have as much voice in your life as Jesus Christ will and Tony's a great guy, but Jesus is better.

Ellen Krause: 33:32

Agree, agree. Well, bob, as we start to kind of wrap things up, what do you hope readers are going to take away from their experience of going through this 365 day journey? What can they look forward to?

Bob Goff: 33:58

is their stories. I hope they won't see mine. I hope what they'll see is this invitation to this beautiful life that God has invited them to. I hope they'll see each day as this opportunity to like kind of dig in, to do a little bit, push out a little bit deeper. That's the 38 miracles that Jesus did. That's the fifth one, and Jesus invited them to these guys to push out a little bit deeper. And they thought it was a bad idea. They thought it was stupid. They'd been fishing all night. But the verse after that says they did it anyway. So that would be my hope that people would read these pages each day. They'd get a tap on the shoulder, not a pointy uh finger pointed in their face, but just tap on the shoulder to remember why we're doing what we're doing and then be encouraged to just give people a little bit more slack.

Bob Goff: 34:47

When people do something super lame, I, just when people do something lame, I picture a little thought bubble over their head, uh and uh. In the thought bubble the words are I'm being really helpful right now, even though they're not at all, but most people aren't trying to be disruptive. They think they're actually being helpful. They'll comment on something you said or they'll get your grill about something In their mind, they're being super helpful. Get your grill about something in their mind, they're being super helpful.

Bob Goff: 35:20

We've got a uh, these scottish highland cattle out at a retreat center. I've got, and uh and uh, they dropped a new one off. And uh, and I asked the guy that dropped it off is your cow nice? Because we have people there for equine therapy and all that. They just need that. Their life has been hard, they just need to pet a nice cow.

Bob Goff: 35:35

And he said she's so nice and went 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 was nice and I'll never forget. He said she don't know she has horns. I'm like every mother-in-law joke right there. So that whole idea that some people just don't know they have horns, that cow thought she was nuzzling me when she was goring me, and so people that are hurting you think they're being helpful to you. And so what we need to do is have the maturity and the confidence in our faith, informed by our failures and our successes, but to walk into that situation and see a thought bubble that says I'm being really helpful right now, and then you don't need to give them airtime because what they did is super lame, so just move on. Talk about sports. I would. I don't care, I just changed the subject.

Ellen Krause: 36:34

Oh well, bob, after going through many of your devotionals, I can assure people that they will be so, so encouraged. Where can they go to find out more information about you and your book?

Bob Goff: 36:48

Yeah, I'm a pretty easy guy to track down. I put my cell phone number in the back of three million books, isn't that awesome? I can't get a thing done. I get so many phone calls of 3 million books Isn't that awesome? I can't get a thing done. I just thought Jesus was available to everybody. And you have somebody that writes a country Western song about a big old truck or a big old dog and then people like it and they're not available anymore. Or somebody gets a bit part in a movie and they're not available. They have keepers and cup bearers and all that. And Jesus just said you know 12 misfits. I don't even have 12 people, I just have a cell phone. So I'm a pretty easy guy to reach. Just type in Bob Goff somewhere and you'll find me.

Ellen Krause: 37:26

Excellent. Okay, well, we will make sure we have links in our show notes as well for people. Before we go, though, I have to ask you some of our favorite Bible study tool questions. What Bible is your go-to Bible, and which translation is it?

Bob Goff: 37:41

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 the time. In World War II they're dropping bombs and the only authorized version of the scripture was the King James and none of the kids in his class understood all the these and thous. So he sat in a bunker when all the bombs were dropping and he wrote the first living Bible and it's called the JB Phillips Bible for Schools and they put it in every single school in the country. Isn't that awesome. I love that. That's my cookbook Bible.

Ellen Krause: 38:15

Oh cool, isn't that awesome. I love that. That's my cookbook Bible. Oh cool. Okay, bob, do you have any favorite journaling supplies or anything that you like to use to enhance your Bible?

Bob Goff: 38:23

study experience. Pen and paper I send myself, and an iPhone. I send myself about 150 emails a day. Isn't that crazy? I get home, I'm like him again, block, but I will encounter people and circumstances and thoughts and little shards of ideas and I send myself immediately a, an email about it and then get this. I stopped having quiet times probably 30 years ago. Mine are super loud. What I'll do is I'll take everything that I sent myself the day before and I'll check it against scripture. I'll just so in the mornings I mean it is loud, it is raucous because I'm trying to like really engage this stuff and so um. So that's the pattern for me. Yeah, I don't write it on gum wrappers. I send myself emails and then the next morning I just get rowdy and like just say, like, let's figure out if this is true. If it doesn't square with scripture, I just don't put it in the next book, and if it does, then I might.

Ellen Krause: 39:22

Okay, excellent, okay. Lastly, what's your favorite app or website for Bible study tools?

Bob Goff: 39:29

You know, I just really like Google. I think if I'm trying to find something, I literally I just put a Google, the first coin that was ever minted in the United States. On the one side it said we are one from John 17. Isn't that awesome. And on the backside of that coin it says mind your business, keep that in mind. So, like that whole idea, like so, uh, what will stick with me is that idea something really interesting. I'm not a coin collector, uh, but I got a hold of that coin, uh, and I think there's just something beautiful like these reminders. Constantly I wear a mickey mouse watch I. You know, I walk into rooms every once in a while where nobody's smiling, because there's like a lot of conflict in the air and I'm like me and you, buddy, oh boy, smiling, I'm smiling. So for a tool, I think I just use Google so much to just get right to it, to get to the interesting stuff, because I don't want to talk about the stuff that I've already talked about.

Bob Goff: 40:34

I was in oh what's that place that has a real bad water system Flint, michigan. I was in Flint and it was the springtime and I walked out my hotel room and all the roads had been salted and I'm like, dude, it's like 70. Why have you salted the roads and get this? They get their salt next year based on how much they use up this year, and it was a really light winter, so they started salting the roads, even though they didn't need to. I'm like, oh, that'll preach. So what I'm trying to do when it comes to a Bible study or Bible app, to go a little bit deeper, keeping in mind that John 13 telling stories to find interesting things that bring me to the feet of Jesus, bring me back to the scriptures.

Ellen Krause: 41:19

That's beautiful, Bob. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, for encouraging us, you bet, and I just I really appreciate your sense of humor, your curiosity and just the way that you will definitely inspire people if they choose to pick up your book, which I highly encourage.

Bob Goff: 41:40

Yeah, or you can wait for a while and get it for a nickel at a used bookstore. Either way, whatever it is that encourages people, just keep doing that.

Ellen Krause: 41:49

Absolutely All right. Well, we just want to let our listeners know we appreciate you. We thank you so much for listening. Have a blessed day.