Bob Goff - Undistracted

2022 Bob Goff

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

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ISBN 978-1-4002-2811-9 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-2697-9 (HC)

ISBN 978-1-4002-3535-3 (IE)

Epub Edition December 2021 9781400228119

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021951286

Printed in the United States of America

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This book is dedicated to Sweet Maria Goff and our expanding family. Thank you Lindsey, Jon, Richard, Ashley, Adam, and Kaitlyn, you are my teachers and Im your biggest fan. Most of what I have ever written down in a book I learned from simply watching you live your beautiful lives. G. K. Chesterton once told his friends, Im sorry for the long letter, I didnt have time to write a short one. This book is the long letter you have helped me write to myself about the kind of undistracted life I strive to have. The model of your lives is pointing the way for me.

I also dedicate these words to my friend Bill Lokey, who gave away extravagant love to me while fighting a courageous battle against cancer. Thank you for teaching me not to be fearful or distracted about what happens after this life ends... and for the promise that arriving in heaven will be simply like stepping from the boat to the dock. Welcome ashore, Bill.

And finally, to everyone who forgot about the important work they were called to do because they were distracted by what seemed more urgent, even if it wasnt. My hope is that these pages will help you find your way back to the big and undistracted life Jesus invited you to live. Be relentless in your efforts to locate this place; do whatever it takes to get there. Once you arrive, dont let anything but heaven cause you to budge from it.

Living on purpose is like a horse wearing blinders.

A couple of years ago I traveled with a few friends to Kurdistan, a place near Irans border. We had started a school in the region and were building a hospital and housing for refugees. One morning we got up early and went to the top of a mountain that divided Iraq and Iran. It was a rocky and nondescript area. I remembered from a decade ago when three Americans were taken into custody by Iranian border guards for crossing into Iran while hiking on this mountain. I understood how easy it could be to get confused about what side of a border you were on. A line on a map doesnt always translate to markings on the ground.

As I walked with my friends, we saw a sign indicating a minefield separating the two countries. This must be the border, I thought. I couldnt read the language on the sign, but the skull, crossbones, and drawing of an explosion told the story pretty clearly. I decided to throw a couple of rocks into the minefield to see if anything would happen. I know, I know, it probably wasnt such a great idea, but it was the best bad idea I could come up with at the time. After ten or fifteen minutes I looked over at the landmine sign again and noticed it had been dug up. We werent on the perimeter throwing rocks into the minefield; it was just as likely that we were in the minefield.

Be honest. From time to time we all find ourselves in dangerous places when we think we are safe. Distraction is what leads us into this kind of minefield. No matter who you are, somehow or somewhere you will cross over and find yourself in the middle of something you thought you were only adjacent to or on the edge of.

You and I need to recognize the signs that we are becoming distracted. While we might notice our minds wandering, we also need to look at the meandering nature of our activities. Rather than making decisions consistent with who God says we are, we might be acting like the person someone else wants us to be. Perhaps comparison is leading you away from yourself. Maybe it is financial pressures or deep-seated insecurities or past failures that are overly influencing your present decisions. We need to recognize these things in our lives before we can begin the courageous work of moving forward.

Try this: Take some notes for an entire day on how you are spending time between the big projects or commitments in your life. Dont just write down I worked on writing my paper today or I spent the day preparing for my weekend trip. Write down all the things that distracted you from writing or preparing that day. Again, be honest: I went to the post office. I chased the neighbors dog out of my yard. I compared my failure with someone elses success. I ate a Pop-Tart. Keep it real and admit you had three. Distractions like these make up the minefield you are in right now, not the one you think you are still on the perimeter of. A thousand such unnoticed distractions are getting in the way of your joy and preventing you from living with the kind of focused purpose that will produce the life you are longing for.

Dont feel bad about all the things that have been grabbing your attention. We all become distracted at some point. It is somehow built into our operating systems. We become distracted from our goals and greater purposes by our temporary circumstances. We can be distracted by each other and even away from God and what we really believe to be true. Sadly, the boatload of goodness we could bring to the world is being scuttled by the many things that carry us so far away from the dock we can no longer make the leap back to shore. We get stuck in the past, worry about the present, or get distracted by the future. We no longer lean into our lives right where we are but instead lean away from them and become individuals who bear little resemblance to the people God intended us to become.