What About Bob? Baby Steps To Breakthrough

Written By Paul McDonald

Download your study guide here.

If you enjoy this podcast, and would like to support the work we do, visit buymeacoffee.com/menatthemovies. You’ll get early access to episodes and behind the scenes content. Every supporter gets stickers, either celebrating holidays like Easter, or specific movies like Star Wars or Back to the Future. Go to buymeacoffee.com/menatthemovies to learn more.

Thank you to our sponsor, Confined Space Coffee. For safety grade premium coffee, visit confinedspacecoffee.com. Use code MATM for 10% off your first order.

Can fear set you free? Our latest Men at the Movies episode unpacks What About Bob? to show how baby steps, community, and divine interruptions turn anxiety into breakthrough. Listen now, download the study guide, and start your own journey from panic to purpose.

The Quotes

  • Leo doesn’t care about Bob as a person, but only Bob as a problem.

  • Desperation moves Bob out of isolation and into connection.

  • We encounter two eternal things every day: the word of God and other people.

  • I don’t need a minister; I need a friend.

  • People are transformed by community.

  • If I offer answers when there have been no questions, I’m doing damage.

  • God’s interventions are never convenient, because you weren’t on the right path

 Themes

  • The power of community to heal

  • Contrast of Leo and Bob: They long for connection, but don’t know how to get it.

    • Leo is calm at the beginning, but is chaos at the end. He thinks he has all the answers. Believes the lie that his clients are so messed up they can’t help him. Bob saves his life, but because he is so rigid in his thinking, he never thanks him. Leo runs from his fears. Leo doesn’t relate, even to those closest to him. His life is a façade, to the point he needs a puppet to talk to his daughter.

    • Bob is chaotic at the beginning, calm at the end. He is desperate for help. Believes the lie that desperation is working for him, and that the world is a scary place. His fear keeps him from connection. Bob stepping in and engaging with his fears. He relates to people because he has all the fears.

    • They switch places at the end.

  • When God gets involved in our lives, it’s never convenient.

    • Disruptive: We have a plan and his intervention doesn’t fit in it.

    • Rerouting: We are going the wrong direction and need to get back on the right path.

    • Examples: Moses, Gideon, Mary.

Resources

  • Weep with those who weep

  • You will know them by their fruit

  • Nebuchadnezzar

  • If you give up your life.

Questions

  • When has your life been characterized by chaos and desperation?

  • How have you embraced isolation with the belief that it’s working for you?

  • When have you given great solutions when all the person wanted was a friend?  When did that happen to you?

  • When has God sent an intervention that felt like an interruption? Is this happening right now?

  • What is the impact of the people in your life?

  • What is your impact, your fruit, on the people closest to you?

  • Where can you engage in connection with someone by saying, “Tell me more.”?

More info

Check out our YouTube channel (@menatthemovies) for bonus content.

Find us on the socials:

If you would like to support our work (and get some behind-the-scenes perks), visit our Buy Me A Coffee page. Get invites to livestreams, bonus episodes, even free merch.

Logo and episode templates by Ian Johnston

Audio quotes performed by Britt Mooney, Paul McDonald, and Tim Willard, taken from Epic (written by John Eldredge) and Song of Albion (written by Stephen Lawhead).

Southerly Change performed by Zane Dickinson, used under license from Shutterstock.

Links:

Paul McDonald
Next

Mr. Saturday Night: Applause, Identity, and Lasting Laughter