Monday, October 7, 2013

"God is Good"

Hello my name is Don Valencia! If you are reading this you probably have read my good friend, Bob Goff's book, Love Does. And if you have read his book you have read the chapter in his book called "God is Good". Yes this story is about me and the time that Bob helped me surprise my family on vacation. Bob has shared some wonderful parts of my life in this chapter of his book, which are all true; I will talk more about this later in the text, but most importantly I would like to tell you what a wonderful friend Bob has been to me and to my family. Bob is an extraordinary man and friend. Who Bob is, is best described through the title of his book, Love Does, everyday of his life he lives it reminding me that love does things, "Bob Goff loves people with a force that is natural, and by natural I mean like nature, like a waterfall or wind or waves on the ocean. He loves effortlessly, as though love packs annually in snow on a mountain, melting and rushing through him in an infinite loop. There's no explanation for a man who can love this well save God. I think Bob Goff knows God, and I think God's love flows through him."
Bob showed this love to me when he helped me surprise my family. I have stage four cancer of the liver and lungs, I am dying. Bob and I built a lodge up in British Columbia and I asked Bob if my family and I could go to the lodge to create a family memory, knowing it could be one of my last. Bob, without any questions willingly agreed. This is what I love about Bob he is willing to do anything, anywhere, anytime to help anybody. A few days before we were supposed to go on the trip I got very ill and could not go, I told my family to go ahead without me. I was very upset, but I knew my health depended on me staying in the hospital. Bob came to me with a great idea. He worked out all of the travel information, hospital information concerning my health, and all of my personal information; He had the idea to get me to the lodge to surprise my family. I thought it was a brilliant idea and left it to him to plan everything! Bob got a travel team of nurses to fly with me to give me the same treatments that I would have received in the hospital and got a plane for me to travel on. Bob did not go with me, instead he went to the lodge to make sure that my family was at the right spot at the right time to see my arrival. His plan prevailed and my wife and kids were totally surprised! What I had imagined for the whole vacation, was for a time to make a memory which is exactly what we did! The memory of surprising my family and getting to spend time with them was far better than if I had just come with them. This is just one of the examples of what an amazing person Bob is and how much he wants to love and be a friend.
Bob also in the chapter in his book mentioned that I worked for Starbucks. Yes I did work for Starbucks! And yes I did invent the frappuccino  and the VIA packets of coffee. It all began with the idea,"Can I freeze dry coffee so that I can recook it when I am on one of my climbing adventures?" I started experimenting and nothing was working. One day my wife brought me coffee beans from Starbucks to see if they would work; it didn't just work, it was AMAZING! I mailed the Starbucks CEO a letter explaining what I had done and a sample. He wrote me back and hired me to head the research and development arm of Starbucks, that is where I invented the frappuccino and finally came up with the presentation of the freeze dried coffee, VIA coffee packets. I came up with many other ideas but nothing quite worked out as well as those two.
My main reason in writing this entry is to tell you about my life, my amazing friend Bob, and that like Bob we should be living a life where love does.

"Catching A Ride"

Hello I am the woman that gave Bob a ride when he took his hitch hiking adventure during college. I am not one of Bob's good friends but I will not forget my experience of giving him a ride. If you have read Bob's book, Love Does, which came out many years after this experience, you will find this same story from Bob's perspective in the chapter, "Catching A Ride."
I can remember the day crystal clearly. I was driving down the interstate along the coast and I saw a man walking down the interstate. He did not look homeless, he just seemed a little dazed and he almost looked confused. As he saw my car coming towards him he stuck out his thumb for the hitch hiking signal to see if I could give him a ride. I pulled the car over and he asked where I was going (an unspoken rule of hitch hikers) I told him I was headed to a wedding in San Francisco. He asked if I minded if he caught a ride, I said of course not, hop in. It had been just a few minutes down the road after Bob had hopped in the car and he asked what was in the black box in the back seat of my car. I told him it was my harp and that I was doing the music for the wedding I was headed to. I did not think that it was very strange that he asked what it was, but what did seem some what strange is the relief on his face to know that it was just a harp. I asked him if he was ok and he began telling me of the past car he had caught a ride in. He told me that he had been without a ride for almost a day, so he was ready to give in to anyone willing to give him a ride. So when an old run down VW van pulled over he hopped in. He told me this was his first mistake because he did not check to see where the van was headed before he got in the car. He then started describing the driver. The driver was a man, maybe forty years old, had a huge beard, and had a wild man look. Bob said that he noticed rose petals in the dash board of the car and a picture of feet. Right then Bob began to feel weirded out. Bob said he tried to remain calm, so he decided to ask the man questions such as where are you headed, what do you like to do, etc. the man never gave an answer. Bob then asked what the man's name was, and he told him his name was satan. Bob said he immediately told the man to let him out of the car because he was so scared. And then I was the next car to give him a ride. As he told me the story I now realized why he looked so relieved to be in my car.
Bob's story was no doubt creepy and scary, but it also reminded me of something. As Christians we have to choose who we "catch a ride with" the people we hang out with and spend time with is who we will become. We need to be more cautious and ask people "where they are headed" so that we know we are not headed towards a path of destruction.

"There's No More Room"

Hello my name is Brandon! If you are reading this you probably have read my amazing friend Bob Goff's book, Love Does. And if you have read his book you have read the chapter in his book, "There's More Room". That chapter in the book contains a story about Bob and I and one of the adventures we went on together. Bob is a great friend of mine and I love being able to go on countless adventures with him. Every time I am with Bob he reveals to me the invitation to fully live. To fully live is to wake up each morning and actually live a life of complete engagement, a life of whimsy, a life where love does. That is one reason we are able to go on adventures together, because we want to fully live, to fully participate in this amazing life for one more day. "You know what it is about someone that makes them a friend? A friend doesn't just say things; a friend does."
The story of that chapter begins with Bob and I. We were in Washington D.C. taking care of some business when on one night back to our hotel we saw a ton of cars parked outside of the Library of Congress. This normally would not have seemed strange except that it was past midnight when we saw this. I am one of those people that takes risks and chances; I want to have fun. So I looked at Bob, hoping he was thinking what I was thinking. And he was, we knew we had to figure out what was going on. So like two boys wanting adventure we made our way closer to the Library of Congress. There we saw before our eyes a sign that read, "National Treasure 2". We were stunned! We knew we had to figure out a way to get onto the set. So I told Bob that we should go to our hotel, very quickly, and change clothes to look like we were part of the movie set crew; we did. We arrived back at the Library of Congress about thirty minutes later dressed to look like we were workers on the set. We had to be very secretive; we hid from security guards and were trying to figure out the best way to get on the set. Up ahead we saw an entrance for staff, so we headed towards it. I felt kind of nervous approaching the entrance in fear we might get caught but I did not say anything. Then I got really freaked out because at the pass gate there was a security guard, I knew we were about to be in big trouble. Somehow, only by a miracle we made it passed the guard and he did not suspect anything. We entered the set and hid so that we could see what was going on. We did not see any particular scene being filmed, but assumed it was the part they wre looking for the preident's secret book. We remained there for a good while watching, but I told Bob that it was probably time to go. We looked around to find the best way out. We decided it best to follow a crowd out so we started following the closest group of people. Then all of a sudden as we were walking I spotted Nicolas Cage and Diane Kruger get right in front of us. My night and I'm sure Bob's night was made.
This is just one of the things that I love about Bob, he is willing to go to any extent or risk anything to make a friend happy and to live his life fully. Bob's life is a testimony not just to me, but to anyone who meets him or reads his book. What else I love about him is that you do not have to really know Bob to experience his love and the presence of the warmth of his life.
Bob has related this idea of living fully to not only living fully, but accepting Christ's invitation to live fully with Him. All God really wants is us, and we decide to live our lives fully for Him other people will see this and the joy that it brings to us and want it too.