Who does Jesus tell us to love? Our family and friends? The folks we go to church with? What about the creepy guy down the street that makes you pull your kids closer to you? The answer to this question is simple. Love everybody, always.
Bob Goff knocks it out of the park again with his animated, conversational storytelling approach again in “Everybody Always.” Author of “Love Does” Goff give us another look into his whimsical, yet applicable, life stories. His goal is clear and simple, God is teaching him to look and love like Jesus through people in his life. God is teaching you the same thing – if you’re a willing pupil. Goff shares the transformation he’s undergoing (in his heart) and spurs you on toward the same change.
“Everybody Alwways” consists of twenty-four chapters where the love of Jesus has a different face. For example, Goff shares of a former neighbor who passed away from cancer, Carol. Through their friendship, Goff tells how he sought to ease the burden of her sickness and how Carol’s love for her neighbors was more than evident in all she did. Goff introduces us to Adrian, a TSA worker he got to know three minutes at a time during his airport security checks. He shows us Karl, a blind man who wins Olympic medals because his sight isn’t fixed on earthly things. We’re introduced to Walter, a wheelchair bound man who can only control his mind and his tongue, yet is a mountain mover and kingdom shaker. And then we meet Kabi, the witch doctor, who taught Goff how simple and powerful grace really is.
If you enjoyed “Love Does,” this book is a no brainer for you – you’ll love it, and again, you’ll be convicted of the way we overcomplicate (and under-use) the gospel, grace, and love. And if you haven’t read Goff’s prior book, reading “Everybody Always” will make you want to. It’s a quick and easy read with short chapters that allow you to pick it up and casually digest short chunks here and there. Read five minutes in the doctor’s waiting room or fifteen minutes before bed. But, each individual chapter leaves you with more than enough to ponder and reflect upon – encouraging you with probing questions to examine the love you show and share.
As Goff has a unique way of doing, I am left examining my own “stories.” Who has God brought into my life? Whose lives has He put me in? What can I learn from them and what can I teach? “Everybody Always” made a point to remind me how my actions will always teach more than my words. So Goff encourages us to stop just agreeing with Jesus and start acting like Jesus. To move from mere Bible-study to actual Bible-doing. To quit simply hoping and to go be help. These are the things that will impact people. He tells us the same thing Jesus told us – go love everybody, always.