Goff Quotes

I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter.

Most people need love and acceptance a lot more than they need advice.

I used to want to fix people, but now I just want to be with them.

You don't need a plan; you just need to be present.

I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, but now I know you simply need to say yes.

...love is never stationary.

But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence. It's a love that operates more like a sign language than being spoken outright.

Simply put: love does.

The thing I love about God is He intentionally guides people into failure.

That's what love does - it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end. When you go after something you love, you'll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything.

Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It's not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He's made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, "Let's go do that together.

Grace works that way. It's a kind word from a gentle person with an impossible prayer. It's a force sometimes transmitted best hand to hand in a dark place.

When joy is a habit, love is a reflex.

Sometimes the door closes on a relationship, not because we failed but because something bigger than us says this no longer fits our life. So, lock the door, shed a tear, turn around and look for the new door that's opened. It's a sign that you're no longer that person you were, it's time to change into who you are. It's going to be okay.

It has always seemed to me that broken things, just like broken people, get used more; it's probably because God has more pieces to work with.

Failure is just part of the process, and it's not just okay; it's better than okay. God doesn't want failure to shut us down. God didn't make it a three-strikes-and-you're-out sort of thing. It's more about how God helps us dust ourselves off so we can swing for the fences again. And all of this without keeping a meticulous record of our screw-ups.

I used to think God wouldn’t talk to me, but now I know I’m just selective with what I choose to hear.

Sometimes the strongest thing you will ever do will be to let go of someone. It will be painful, you will suffer guilt, and you will second-guess yourself, but for your own sanity and quality of life, there will come a time where you hand them to God, with your love, and trust Him to be who and what He is. May our Lord comfort you.

Something happens when you feel ownership. You no longer act like a spectator or consumer, because you're an owner. Faith is at its best when it's that way too. It's best lived when it's owned.

When you trust someone, you don't need to know everything.

Being engaged is a way of doing life, a way of living and loving. It's about going to extremes and expressing the bright hope that life offers us, a hope that makes us brave and expels darkness with light. That's what I want my life to be all about - full of abandon, whimsy, and in love.

Whimsy doesn't care if you are the driver or the passenger; all that matters is that you are on your way.

Living a life fully engaged and full of whimsy and the kind of things that love does is something most people plan to do, but along the way they just kind of forget. Their dreams become one of those "we'll go there next time" deferrals. The sad thing is, for many there is no "next time" because passing on the chance to cross over is an overall attitude toward life rather than a single decision.

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

I want to go barefoot because it’s holy ground; I want to be running because time is short and none of us has as much runway as we think we do; and I want it to be a fight because that’s where we can make a difference. That’s what love does.

For me, it's Jesus plus nothing-...

we’re all rough drafts of the people we’re still becoming.

Burning down others’ opinions doesn’t make us right. It makes us arsonists.

We don't really make friends, they make us.

That's one of those things about love. It always assumes it can find a way to express itself.

If Jesus has taught me anything, though, it's that sometimes you can really want to know somebody and it takes them forever to want to know you back.

When you are in high school, you don't give much thought to what you can't do. For most people, that gets learned later, and for still fewer, gets unlearned for the rest of life.

Historical reality has two sides. One is made ​​up of facts, events, material realities, and one of the ideas, images and dreams.

No one is remembered for what they only planned to do.

What Jesus said we could do is leave typical behind.

I think God’s hope and plan for us is pretty simple to figure out. For those who resonate with formulas, here it is: add your whole life, your loves, your passions, and your interests together with what God said He wants us to be about, and that’s your answer.

A dream is a seed. Vision plants it. Imagination nurtures growth. Opportunities create blooms. Thoughts become things!

Jesus lets us be real with our life and our faith.

Love does whatever it takes to multiply itself and somehow along the way everyone becomes a part of it.

Think the thoughts you would think if you wholeheartedly trusted God's promises.

Jesus talked to His friends a lot about how we should identify ourselves. He said it wouldn’t be what we said we believed or all the good we hoped to do someday. Nope, He said we would identify ourselves simply by how we loved people. It’s tempting to think there is more to it, but there’s not. Love isn’t something we fall into; love is some one we become.

...we need to stop plotting the course and instead just land the plane on our plans to make a difference by getting to the "do" part of faith.

People who follow Jesus, though, are no longer typical - God is constantly inviting them into a life that moves away from typical.

No one expects us to love them flawlessly, but we can love them fearlessly, furiously, and unreasonably.

Whimsy...needs to be fully experienced to be fully known. Whimsy doesn't care if you are the driver or the passenger; all that matters is that you are on your way.

When love is a theory, it's safe, it's free of risk. But love in the brain changes nothing.

We’re not held back by what we don’t have, but by what we don’t use.

There’s a difference between good judgment and living in judgment.

Words can launch us. We don't need to be a dean to say words that change everything for someone. Instead, God made it so that ordinary people like you and me can launch each other.

he said we'd know the extent of out love for God by how well we loved people.

We need to make our faith our very own love story.

I don’t think Bible verses were meant to be thrown like grenades at each other. They were meant for us to use to point each other toward love and grace and invite us into something much bigger.

I don't think anyone aims to be typical, really. Most people even vow to themselves some time in high school or college not to be typical. But still, they just kind of loop back to it somehow. Like the circular rails of a train at an amusement park, the scripts we know offer a brand of security, of predictability, of safety for us. But the problem is, they only take us where we've already been. They loop us back to places where everyone can easily go, not necessarily where we were made to go. Living a different kind of life takes some guts and grit and a new way of seeing things.

When it's a matter of the heart, the place doesn't matter.

It’s given me a lot of comfort knowing we’re all rough drafts of the people we’re still becoming.

What is it that you don't think you can do? What do you think is too big for you? Or too scary, or too risky? Sometimes God whispers it, and sometimes, he shouts it. Whatever the volume, I bet he's always using the same three words with us: Be Not Afraid.

She was all cotton candy and pink champagne --- legs that stretched out for five or six miles, and one of those laughs that made you feel like riding around in a convertible.

In the end, love doesn’t just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put: love does.

The people who slowly became typical have the greatest problem wrapping their minds around a dynamic friendship with an invisible, alive God.

Jesus never had a problem with the people who had a lot of questions. He was concerned with the ones who thought they had all the answers.

Actually, the real game of Bigger and Better that Jesus is playing with us usually isn’t about money or possessions or even our hopes. It’s about our pride. He asks if we’ll give up that thing we’re so proud of, that thing we believe causes us to matter in the eyes of the world, and give it up to follow Him. He’s asking us, “Will you take what you think defines you, leave it behind, and let Me define who you are instead?

You know what it is about someone that makes them a friend? A friend doesn’t just say things; a friend does.

Nobody turns down an invitation to the white house, but I've seen plenty of people turn down an invitation to fully live.

We were born to be brave.

I learned that faith isn’t about knowing all of the right stuff or obeying a list of rules. It’s something more, something more costly because it being present and making a sacrifice. Perhaps that’s why Jesus is sometimes called Immanuel - “God with us.” I think that’s what God had in mind, for Jesus to be present, to just be with us. It’s also what He has in mind for us when it comes to other people.

Sadly, whenever I make my opinions more important than the difficult people God made, I turn the wine back into water.

Jesus never said doing these things would be easy. He just said it would work.

Things that go wrong can shape us or scar us.

I’ve spent my whole life avoiding the people Jesus spent His whole life engaging

Love isn’t something we fall into; love is someone we become.

Part calico choir girl...........and part satin dance hall doll, with amber eyes and a dash of hellcat red in her hair --- the kind of woman that a man wants in his bedroom when he's sick.............and in his bed when he's not.

God doesn't want failure to shut us down.

[...] I've realized that I used to be afraid of failing at the things that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter.

We all want to have a place where we can dream and escape anything that wraps steel bands around our imagination and creativity.

Turn your mountains into molehills by discussing God more than your difficulties.

He saw the need and he did something about it. He didn't just say he was for me or with me. He was actually present with me.

I used to think I had to act a certain way to follow God, but now I know God doesn’t want us to be typical.

We were all meant to save many lives. God is always trying to save lives, and it seems like He usually uses the least likely people to do it.

It has always seemed to me that broken things, just like broken people, get used more; it’s probably because God has more pieces to work with.

That’s what love does—it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end. When you go after something you love, you’ll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything.

...it seems that what God does most of the time when He has something to say is this...He doesn't pass us messages, instead he passes us each other.

I think a father’s job, when it’s done best, is to get down on both knees, lean over his children’s lives, and whisper, ‘Where do you want to go?’ Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It’s not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He’s made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, ‘Let’s go do THAT together.

I think God pays attention to our hearts and enjoys when people want to get close to Him. He knows our sadness and the brokenness we want to hide from Him, and He sends people to look for us.

You’ll be able to spot people who are becoming love because they want to build kingdoms, not castles. They fill their lives with people who don’t look like them or act like them or even believe the same things as them. They treat them with love and respect and are more eager to learn from them than presume they have something to teach.

There are times to listen to the people that believe in you during those days you don't believe in yourself. Sometimes you look in the mirror and it's fogged up; the person looking back a blurred image, but those folks that know you and love you see the real you. Sometimes you have to trust the ones that are there for you in your darkest times to find out how much light exists in you. God bless you.

I think Jesus meant something different when He said “enemies.” He meant we should love the people we don’t understand. The ones we disagree with. The ones who are flat wrong about more than a couple of things. I have plenty of those people in my life, and my bet is you do too.

It won't be the fires that destroy our lives and our faith, it will be obsessing over not getting burned again that will.

Whether you’re married or single, figure out what fuels your passions and what crushes your soul. Figure out what you’re good at and what you’re not so good at. Keep it simple. Do more of what you’re good at and less of everything else. Because

But I've always wondered if, when we want to do something that we know is right and good, God places that desire deep in out hearts because He wants it for us and it honors Him. Maybe there are times when we think a door has been close and, instead of misinterpreting the circumstances, God wants us to kick it down. Or perhaps just sit outside of it long enough until somebody tells us we can some in.

I think God sometimes uses the completely inexplicable events in our lives to point us toward Him. We get to decide each time whether we will lean in toward what is unfolding and say yes or back away. The folks who were following Jesus in Galilee got to decide the same thing each day because there was no road map, no program, and no certainty. All they had was this person, an idea, and an invitation to come and see.

Imagine you're evil. Not misunderstood. Not sad. But evil. Imagine you've got a heart that spends all day wanting more. Imagine your mind is a selfish room full of pride or pity. Imagine you're like Brandon Goff and you find poor kids in the halls and make fun of their clothes, and you flick their ears until they scream in pain and swing their arms, and so you pin them down and break their fingers. Or you spit in his food in the cafeteria. Or you just call him things like cockroach and sand monkey. Imagine you're evil and you don't do any of those things, but you're like Julie Jenkins and you laugh and you laugh at everything Brandon does, and you even help when a teacher comes and asks what's going on and you say nothing's going on, and he believes you because you get A-pluses in English. Or imagine you just watch all of this. And you act like you're disgusted, because you don't like meanness. But you don't do anything or tell anyone. Imagine how much you've got compared to all the kids in the world getting blown up or starved, and the good you could do if you spent half a second thinking about it. Suddenly evil isn't punching people or even hating them. Suddenly it's all that stuff you've left undone. All the kindness you could have given. All the excuses you gave instead. Imagine that for a minute. Imagine what it means.

We make loving people a lot more complicated than Jesus did. Every time I try to protect myself by telling somebody about one of my opinions, God whispers to me and asks about my heart. Why are you so afraid? Who are you trying to impress? Am I really so insecure that I surround myself only with people who agree with me? When people are flat wrong, why do I appoint myself the sheriff to straighten them out? Burning down others’ opinions doesn’t make us right. It makes us arsonists.

Finally, and definitely the coolest part, is that you get a card from the State Department that gives you diplomatic immunity. I wasn't exactly sure what diplomatic immunity meant, so I asked around to see if I could kill someone. Not someone important, of course, but someone normal - like Doug. I never got a call back on the question so I'm operating under the assumption that I can.

The cool thing about taking Jesus up on His offer is that whatever controls you doesn’t anymore. People who used to be obsessed about becoming famous no longer care whether anybody knows their name. People who used to want power are willing to serve. People who used to chase money freely give it away. People who used to beg others for acceptance are now strong enough to give love. When we get our security from Christ, we no longer have to look for it in the world, and that’s a pretty good trade.

God wants me to love the ones I don’t understand, to get to know their names. To invite them to do things with me. To go and find the ones everyone has shunned and turned away. To see them as my neighbors even if we are in totally different places. You’ll be able to spot people who are becoming love because they want to build kingdoms, not castles. They fill their lives with people who don’t look like them or act like them or even believe the same things as them. They treat them with love and respect and are more eager to learn from them than presume they have something to teach.

There is only one invitation it would kill me to refuse, yet I'm tempted to turn it down all the time. I get the invitation every morning when I wake up to actually live a life of complete engagement, a life of whimsy, a life where love does. It doesn't come in an envelope. It's ushered in by a sunrise, the sound of a bird, or the smell of coffee drifting lazily from the kitchen. It's the invitation to actually live, to fully participate in this amazing life for one more day. Nobody turns down an invitation to the White House, but I've seen plenty of people turn down an invitation to fully live. Turning down this invitation comes in lots of flavors. It looks like numbing yourself or distracting yourself or seeing something really beautiful as normal. It can also look like refusing to forgive or not being grateful or getting wrapped around the axle with fear or envy. I think every day God sends us an invitation to live and sometimes we forget to show up or get head-faked into thinking we haven't really been invited. But you see, we have been invited -- every day, all over again

That’s our job. It’s always been our job. We’re supposed to just love the people in front of us. We’re the ones who tell them who they are. We don’t need to spend as much time as we do telling people what we think about what they’re doing. Loving people doesn’t mean we need to control their conduct. There’s a big difference between the two. Loving people means caring without an agenda. As soon as we have an agenda, it’s not love anymore. It’s acting like you care to get someone to do what you want or what you think God wants them to do. Do less of that, and people will see a lot less of you and more of Jesus.

There is a concept called body autonomy. It’s generally considered a human right. Bodily autonomy means a person has control over who or what uses their body, for what, and for how long. It’s why you can’t be forced to donate blood, tissue, or organs. Even if you are dead. Even if you’d save or improve 20 lives. It’s why someone can’t touch you, have sex with you, or use your body in any way without your continuous consent. A fetus is using someone’s body parts. Therefore under bodily autonomy, it is there by permission, not by right. It needs a persons continuous consent. If they deny and withdraw their consent, the pregnant person has the right to remove them from that moment. A fetus is equal in this regard because if I need someone else’s body parts to live, they can also legally deny me their use. By saying a fetus has a right to someone’s body parts until it’s born, despite the pregnant person’s wishes, you are doing two things: 1. Granting a fetus more rights to other people’s bodies than any born person. 2. Awarding a pregnant person less rights to their body than a corpse.

Che cosa comporta, di preciso, essere un uomo, uno vero? Repressione delle emozioni. Mettere a tacere la propria sensibilità. Vergognarsi della propria delicatezza, della propria vulnerabilità. Lasciare l'infanzia brutalmente, e definitivamente: gli uomini-bambini non hanno una buona reputazione. Essere angosciati per le dimensioni del proprio cazzo. Saper far godere le donne senza che queste sappiano o vogliano dare indicazioni su come fare. Non mostrare la propria debolezza. Imbavagliare la propria sensualità. Indossare abiti di colori spenti, portare sempre le stesse scarpe goffe, non giocare con i propri capelli, non portare troppi anelli, braccialetti eccetera, non truccarsi. Dover fare il primo passo, sempre. Non avere alcuna cultura sessuale per migliorare il proprio orgasmo. Non saper chiedere aiuto. Dover essere coraggiosi, anche senza averne la minima voglia. Valorizzare la forza qualunque sia il proprio carattere. Dar prova di aggressività. Avere un accesso limitato alla paternità. Riuscire socialmente, per pagarsi le donne migliori. Temere la propria omosessualità perché un uomo, uno vero, non deve essere penetrato. Non giocare con le bambole da piccoli, accontentarsi delle automobiline e di orribili armi di plastica. Non prendersi troppa cura del proprio corpo. Essere sottomessi alla brutalità di altri uomini, senza lamentarsi. Sapersi difendere, anche se si è dolci. Non essere in contatto con la propria femminilità, simmetricamente alle donne che rinunciano alla loro virilità, non in funzione dei bisogni di una situazione o di un carattere, ma in funzione di quello che il corpo collettivo richiede. Affinché, sempre, le donne facciano i figli per la guerra, e gli uomini accettino di andare a farsi ammazzare per salvare gli interessi di tre o quattro cretini che non vedono al di là del loro naso.

It was too familiar to Cody. He placed his arms around his wife trying somehow to shelter her from the reality she was facing. There was another reason for his closeness; his desperation to show her he was not one of them, that the tribes of cruel men did not recognize him as one of their own, and to show his wife that his promise to create a safe place for her was a promise she need not fear would be broken. In the innermost part of him, from the secret child that lives within all men, was a scared cry, “Please don’t think I’m bad too.” From the other innermost part of him, the secret animal that prowls in some men was a raging wolf ready to kill. The battle line within the man had been drawn. The boundaries of faith rose up around the rage, warning the soul against righteous anger morphing to blood lust.