Jenna Lucado Bishop - From Blah to Awe: Shaking Up a Boring Faith

Shaking Up a Boring Faith

Jenna Lucado Bishop

2012 Jenna Lucado Bishop

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Other Scripture references are from the following sources:

The Message (MSG) by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT). 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. New Century Version (NCV). 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION (NKJV). 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bishop, Jenna Lucado.

From blah to awe : shaking up a boring faith / Jenna Lucado Bishop.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4003-1655-7 (pbk.)

1. Christian teenagersReligious life. 2. Christian life. 3. BoredomReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BV4531.3.B56 2012

248.8'3dc23

2011035428

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my husband, Brett.

You see the world with a childlike wonder. No matter how many times you have driven down the same West Texas road, your eyes sparkle at its beauty as if you had never seen it before. No matter how many times you have tasted your moms enchiladas, your mouth smiles as if it were your first taste. And no matter how many times you have watched me sleepily stumble into the kitchen in the morning, your arms wrap around me as if you had never held me before.

The way you see Jesus is no different. No matter how many times you have seen His mercy, tasted His faithfulness, and watched His miracles, your eyes continue to sparkle at His beauty, your mouth continues to smile at His goodness, and your arms continue to stretch toward Him as if you were beholding Him for the first time. Your childlike faith inspired this book.

Contents

PART 1
Why Do I Get
Bored with God?

1
Blah, Blah, Blah

Abby

The room was dark.

There were two catwalks.

At the end of each catwalk stood two poles.

Abby knew what they were for, and her stomach knotted. She had heard that these places exist but had never seen one up close. The room felt eerie. What was she doing here?

She had seen the woman standing outside the nightclub. And unlike the thousands of vendors selling food and tourist trinkets on the streets of Antigua, Guatemala, this woman was selling something more valuableherself. If only the woman knew her true value.

Thats why sixteen-year-old Abby had decided to walk across the street to the nightclub entrance where she now stood peering in. She hadnt thought twice about it. This woman needed to know that she was worth more than the fee men paid to use hera fee that easily could have been as little as two to four dollars an hour.

Abby, along with some others from her mission team, had walked into to the nightclub and asked the owner if they could buy a prostitute for an houran hour they hoped would change her life.

Abby always thought of herself as just a normal girl. She used to think her story was boringto use her own word. Nothing drastic happened in her life. She didnt struggle with drugs, alcohol, or lots of boy drama. She grew up in a Christian home, attended a Christian school.

So how in the world did this normal, boring girl end up on the streets of Guatemala in the middle of a nightclub full of prostitutes? Because of a very unboring, abnormal faith.

That faith led Abby to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, which then took her to the scene in our storya smoke- and lust-filled room. Since it wasnt a busy time, the nightclub owner said they could hang out with one of the prostitutes for free, so he introduced them to Karen.

Karen had no idea why this group of young women was asking her to spend time with them. They definitely werent her normal customers. She watched them warily as she walked across the street with the group and sat down on a park bench.

Through their translator, the team found out that Karen had three children and that she regularly sold her body to provide food and shelter for her family. Abbys heart broke as she listened to Karens story of imprisonment to prostitution. Karen truly believed there was no way out. She had turned to using drugs to numb the pain.

Thats when Abby shared her boring testimony. You see, a few months prior to the trip, Abby had lost her aunt to a drug overdose. Through tears, Abby told Karen that she didnt want her to die like her aunt, to waste her life. God loves you, Abby told her. And through Jesus you can have a new life. Then Abby placed a New Testament Bible in Karens hands.

After talking with Karen about her faithreassuring her that God loves her and has a plan for her lifeAbby decided to pull out her wallet. Although Karens owner had given Karen away for free, Abby, along with her friend Nancy, used up all the cash they had in their wallets to give Karen the money she needed to pay for her childrens basic needs. Perhaps their money would lead to one less day of Karen devaluing her body. And maybe one day was all it would take for Karen to find the faith to leave her life of prostitution.

We dont know what happened to Karen after the group of strange American women said good-bye to her. Maybe that day changed her life, maybe it didnt. But we do know that day changed Abbys lifeforever.

Abby came home with a new excitement about Jesus.

Although she had been a Christian a long time, through her experience in Gautemala, Abby discovered a new side of Gods heart. I saw how big God is, how compassionate He is, how much He loves His people.

Abbys faith adventure was just beginning.

Abby, along with her friend Nancy, who had stood with her that afternoon on the streets of Guatemala, sensed that God wanted to use them to build an awareness of women trapped in sex slavery. The hopelessness that Abby and Nancy had seen in Karens eyes drove them to do something about women who have no choice, women who are stolen, women who are forced into brothels and raped multiple times a day. This devastating reality is called sex trafficking, and its not limited to Guatemala. It has evolved into an underground, booming business all over the world. And thats why these two teenage girls created SOS223which stands for Save Our Sisters and is based on Jeremiah 22:3: This is what the LORD says: Do what is fair and right. Save the one who has been robbed from the power of his attacker. Dont mistreat or hurt the foreigners, orphans, or widows. Dont kill innocent people here (NCV).