For our second installment of ‘You’ve Got to Read this Book”, we are connecting with Educational Assistant Extraordinaire, Angeline Law. In our talk, we discuss what the Church looks like from the outside and compare it to Christ’s Love.
Rebekah Loconte: So the title of your book is called Love Does. Can you finish that statement?
Angeline Law: The title is called Love does. It’s written by Bob Goff and for some reason, I was drawn to this book, despite it being in the spiritual/faith section of the bookstore, which is not a section I would typically frequent, I got it around 2012. I didn’t become a Christian until I was an adult. And so I think the reason this book is impactful for me is because it demonstrates living out your faith in a very authentic way. It was all about the idea that you embody love by how you act and what you do…and that it doesn’t need to be complicated.
RL: Okay, so it’s not like ‘love does’ and then finish the sentence. It’s, like, love is a doing word.
AL: Yes. It was very pivotal because it changed my view of what faith looks like.
RL: Did you start reading it immediately or did it kind of sit there for a while?
AL: I would say I read it immediately,
RL: So you were new to the faith and this book instructed you on how to live out your faith.
AL: In a way, it just, sort of, made me feel normal. I had this idea growing up that Christians went to church and were a certain way and acted a certain way. I assumed I would never be allowed and then somehow faith snuck up on me and, as an adult, I found myself really loving the community and becoming a Christian. Remarkably some of the people that hurt me the most were those same people. So, it was an interesting experience in that sense. But this is a really fantastic community. I had always had this idea that, “Oh, you have to do it this way”, “Faith looks like this: read your Bible, do all of your spiritual disciplines, you need to be perfect at them and you need to do all of these things” and I am not that person. That’s what I have found out in the decade or so since reading this book. What I appreciate about the book is that it talks about a very normal guy-and it’s told as little stories- and how God sort of pursued him through people. And, ultimately, that’s how God meets people: through this idea of love, and by modeling Jesus as love. So the book felt very impactful to me because it sort of removed all of my preconceived notions of ‘it has to be this way’. You don’t necessarily have to have the perfect prayer, but you can pray with your feet. For example, you can let someone in front of you, in the drive-thru line, and you can still be modeling the love of Jesus.
RL: That makes sense. It reminds me of Graham’s chapel talk about “What’s the plan? You’re the plan!” You show up as an exemplary or best model that you can be of Christ, and people will be drawn to that love that you exude because, I think, in a similar way people were drawn to Jesus because he was so un-judgy. Do you think your perception of the church as people who have it all figured out or as a standard that you didn’t feel you could live up to was from the people that you met or just the way you had concocted them to be in your mind?
AL: When I was younger, I felt like I didn’t want to be associated with that group of people, and then as I got older, I was like, oh, there’s actually some really fantastic pieces of this, but people screw it up.
RL: Okay, so the people that you met made you think, “I don’t wanna be like that”?
AL: I think so, but I also think I had a preconceived notion just because of the people around me. Most of the people that, you know, cared for me as a kid were against the church because of their bad experiences. So I just sort of adopted that as my own way of being until I was like, oh, wait, I’m allowed to have my own thoughts!
RL: That’s a good reminder, I think, for Christians. There is going to be this perception of us so we’re held to a higher standard because we follow Jesus. We also have this additional work to do because, historically, we haven’t always looked so good. So we need to rise above that and try to be even better because we want to draw people to the beauty of Jesus and not repel them. Thank you for that reminder. What are some major takeaways from the book? You mentioned it is told through stories?
AL: Yes, they’re just short stories from Bob Bob Goff’s life. And the first one is what sort of drew me in because it is an easy read, which is always a plus when you’re looking for something encouraging to keep you moving, but the first story talks about how he was in high school and one day he decides he’s going to give up everything and go to a national park and live in his van. He tells his youth leader who tells Bob to wait for five minutes and he comes with a backpack and says, ‘Okay, I’m going with you.” And Bob goes, “Well, I didn’t really invite you, but, okay”. And his leader says, “Whatever you want to do, I’m with you”. After a few days, Bob goes, “I think it’s time we go back.” And when he gets back to the youth leader’s house he realizes there’s all these gifts everywhere. This leader was newly married but he went with him for three days into the mountains. He thought “I’m not just going to let this high school kid drive in the mountains and fall flat on his face without somebody with him. So Bob relates that to this idea that Jesus sort of meets us where we’re at. And it’s okay just to be with them. I used to want to fix people, but now I just want to be with them.
RL: Why should every Christian read this book? Or should every Christian read this book?
AL: I think, as adults, we lose this sense of wonder and mystery and we get caught in all the things we have to do. We forget to pause and think what saying yes could lead to. We always think about what could go wrong and not what could go right. And I think this book is a beautiful reminder of what could go right if we just show up.
RL: How has this book changed your life?
AL: It reminded me that I don’t have to be perfect because I am someone that puts my value in what I can do. And I think this book reminded me that I don’t have to do everything perfectly, nor do I need to avoid doing things if I can’t do them perfectly. If I take a moment and take a breath and say yes, to all the things I can say yes to, then my life has the potential to be so much more wonderful than I would have imagined it to be. In all the times of my life where I have actually said yes, even if I was nervous, God has always used those beyond what I could have ever come up with on my own.
RL: That’s awesome! That’s a great reason to read a book. Thank you very much for your time and your sincerity in your responses and it sounds like a great book that everybody should read!
