From Blah to Awe: Shaking Up a Boring Faith

From Blah to Awe: Shaking Up a Boring Faith, by Jenna Lucado Bishop, is an inspirational book for teens. I originally thought this might be good for Emily, but, after reading it, think that she’s not quite old enough.  It is really better for high school aged students or even adults.

The topic--shaking up a boring faith—is certainly one that many of us can relate to. We believe in God, but don’t always find him compelling or exciting. I think this is probably even more the case for young people who have grown up in the church and are in the process of making their parents’ faith their own.

The book opens with a riveting account of the author encountering young women caught up in  s*x trafficking while on a mission trip to Guatemala …… (one reason why I’m not giving the book to Emily just yet).

Subsequent chapters address various reasons that Christians may find God boring, then addresses solutions for each. You may identify with some of these impediments to an living, exciting faith:

• We are consumed by busyness, electronics and noise that fill our senses when we need to slow down to look and listen for God’s still small voice.
• Passion for Jesus is hard. It can result in rejection by peers. Being “bored” is cool.
• We think we already know it all.
• We don’t spend time in the Word, which brings and alive, active, un-boring relationship with God.
• We fail to pray.

Jenna Lucado Bishop writes in an engaging style, including personal stories and allegories that help to illustrate her points.

I think this is a great book for teens and young adults. It addresses a topic that I haven’t seen much in Christian literature. I reviewed the e-book version, but would recommend the print version because the book includes room for journaling and answering questions throughout the book.

I received a free e-book copy of From Blah to Awe from Thomas Nelson through their BookSneeze program. All opinions are my own.