Revolve Book Pack Giveaway!

We’re giving away FOUR Revolve Tour Book Packs including: Guys are Waffles, Girls are Spaghetti by Chad Eastham; Redefining Beautiful by Jenna Lucado; and Take Your Best Shot by Austin Gutwein. Enter here for your chance to win!

Jenna Lucado Talks God, Feelings & Life

Join Jenna at The Revolve Tour!

Redefining Beautiful by Jenna Lucado

Redefining Beautiful by Jenna Lucado

Learn what God teaches about beauty―and unlock the secrets of peace, joy, and confidence!

Download Chapter 1

Insecurities and Influences

Chrissy Shelton talks about negative influences in today’s culture and The Revolve Tour’s role models.

Jenna Lucado Behind the Scenes!

A special message from Jenna behind the scenes at the 2009 Revolve Tour - 4Real.

Courtney & Jenna’s Google IM Chat!

Courtney: Hey its Courtney and Jenna here and we thought we’d let you eaves drop on a convo about our trips to Africa.

Jenna: Hey sweet court! wanna chat?

Courtney: YES!!

Jenna: woohoo!! wanna just wing it or should be plan something so we look all smart and composed

Courtney: haha! lets just wing it!

Jenna: i really like your idea for your blog. you are so good at thinking outside the box. seriously.

Courtney: thanks friend. okay, so spill it. i need africa deets! had you been overseas before?

Jenna: i’ve had the opportunity to go oversees on some mission trips with my youth group when i was in high school and even some trips in college. but MAN! no trip can compare to Africa

Courtney: Really??!! what made this one so completely different for you?

Jenna: so much. the poverty was nothing i have ever seen before. i mean, i have seen shacks, kids wearing rags, beggars on the side of the road, but i have never seen an ENTIRE country of poverty. mud huts, animals just roaming the streets, little kids totally unaware of all the flies crawling on their faces … it was really unbelievable. what about you? was this your first time to Africa?

Courtney: It was my first time outside of the country!! And it was heart wrenching. I can totally relate to the poverty you saw in Ethiopia. Rwanda was very much the same. What did you think was one of the coolest things that you saw World Vision doing to help?

Jenna: besides all of the projects. like 85% of the people don’t have access to clean water. world vision is digging wells so that the people don’t have to spend an entire day walking miles to fill up their canisters, load their donkeys or even their own backs with gallons of dirty water they will use for the next few days. on top of that, they build irrigation systems that help hundreds of people have food and provide counsel on AIDS. i could keep going on the projects, but there is one thing that sticks out the most: World Vision empowers people. They give these kids who have no hope, these parents who have no jobs, these drunkards that live on the street corners a voice. They give them a second chance at life. They don’t just give them a little food and some shoes. They actually empower them to start fresh. everyone deserves a second chance, and World Vision gives that second chance. what about you though? i’m blabbing your ear off!

Courtney: No I love it!!! Jenna, you are so right. Sometimes its hard to pick up the pieces of your life, or make changes in your life, when you feel like you have no hope, or no one, for that matter. But World Vision gives them access to resources that they might not otherwise have and that gives them hope for a second chance – like you said. One thing we got to see a lot of was businesses that World Vision had helped start. We met a group of orphans, who were 19 or 20, raising 4-5 siblings each. They had, with the help of WV, started a bread making business. We got to taste it too and they have a pretty good recipe! We saw a bee-keeping business and mushroom business too. And heard over and over again how working gave them a reason to live. A reason to wake up each morning.

Jenna: thats so cool! wow, only 19 and 20 years old? think about what we were doing at that age!

Courtney: right?! laying out at the pool. nothing. shopping.

Jenna: i met middle schoolers that work harder than my entire life combined! but didn’t you think it was so cool how they take so much pride in their work? they smile so much. they have NO idea that they are poor! and, really, to America’s standards they might be poor, but c’mon, they are the wealthiest people in the world!

Courtney: so true. the joy they had was unbelievable. i could not hug them enough!

Jenna: so now that you are home …how do you look at your life differently?

Courtney: gosh, J, that is a hard question. i thought i would feel so guilty when i got home because of all my stuff. but surprisingly, i was just overwhelmed with wanting to be a part of what World Vision is doing and telling everyone i encounter about it. it has increased my desire to serve others and just give of my life. And yes, i imagine i probably freaked a few kids out squeezing them as hard as i did!

Jenna: i know what you mean. i wanted to sponsor like 20,000 more kids. do you wanna adopt an entire country with me?!

Courtney: YES!

Jenna: China baby! let’s take ‘em all!

Courtney: but before we do, you have to answer YOUR hard question - how do you look at your life differently now?

Jenna: =) i wish. but it really is cool how sponsoring just one kid really does help hundreds of others. that money goes to help an community! so when you help one, you help hundreds. hhmmm… how my life has changed … gosh … everything! every time i get water out of the sink, i am thankful. every time i go to the grocery story, i am thankful. every time, i pop in an Advil for my headache, i am thankful. every time i put on a clean shirt, i am thankful. and i wish that gratitude would stick, but i already feel it slipping away! my prayer is that everyday, i will find something to be grateful for. so much of our lives surround what we wish we had! i’m sick of living like that.

Courtney: Jenna - good word! You got to go to Africa months AFTER me and if its already slipping away for you - I feel like my gratitude bug is gone! Thank you for such a great reminder today.

Jenna: i’m SO ready to see my Revolve peeps!

Courtney: Me too! Gonna be a blast. The gmail chat is starting to get tired - I need my Jenna face to face time! Alright friend - I’m glad we got to debrief!

Jenna: I know. I miss you!! Good to chat. Bye babe

Courtney: Bye friend! Talk soon!

Talking with a 13-year-old Ethiopian girl

“If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you go?”
“What is your favorite day of the week?”
“Who are your heroes?”
“What do you talk about with your friends?”
“What do you want to do when you grow up?”

Gathered in a mud hut, sitting on top of bags of grain, I sat across from a 13-year-old Ethiopian girl, Chaltu Beriso, asking her question after question about her life. Thanks to the love and provision of World Vision, Chaltu got a second chance at life after the death of both of her parents. I’m sure I overwhelmed Chaltu. Here I was, this pale-skinned foreigner from across the Atlantic Ocean, hugging her and smothering her with my curiosity. And I’m sure the translator was just as exhausted once I finally shut my mouth!

But I just had to know!! What makes a teenager in Ethiopia different from a teenager in the US? Do they have the same insecurities? Do they like to shop? Do they date? Do they live and breathe sports or munch on junk food? Do they have a dream career or stress out about homework?

Okay, enough with the questions (I can get carried away). Here were her answers:

Q:“If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you go?”
A: “Nazaret.” (Nazaret is the nearest town to her rural village. It is about a 25 minute Land Cruiser drive – the drive we would make everyday to and from our hotel. Even after the translator repeated the question, emphasizing “the entire world,” her answer remained the same. Here I am thinking, “Put me on a plane to Tahiti!”)

Q: “What is your favorite day of the week?”
A: “Monday and Tuesday are my favorite days because Monday is the first day of school and Tuesday is exam day.” (Okay, what?!! School? Exams? Those are her favorite weekly moments?)

Q: “Who are your heroes?”
A: “My heroes are the students who are at the top of our class. They are the ones who are lucky enough to study everyday without as many chores as I have. But because I only live with my grandmother, and she is very old, I have to miss school during the week because of my chores. I cook, clean, fetch water. All of this takes up time I wish I had to study. But I am twelfth in my class!” (And I thought my chores were bad! Cooking in Ethiopia doesn’t consist of throwing a Hot Pocket in the microwave. We are talkin’ fire-fed clay ovens, where they will cook grains to make bread and porridge . . . and coffee and roast meat if they are fortunate enough. So her heroes are good students―and I made fun of smart students!)

Q: “What do you talk about with your friends?”
A: “We talk about what we are studying in school and our futures.” (Want to know what I talked about in high school? Boys, boys and, oh yeah, boys.)

Q: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
A: “A singer.” (Now that’s something I could relate to! In fact, I even asked her to sing for me. With a timid and shaky voice, she sang her favorite church songs. Yet, somehow, it was the most beautiful voice I had ever heard.)

So, why all the questions? Why all the answers? And why did I take the time to blog about all of this?

Well, I learned something in Ethiopia from this 13-year-old girl, and I wanted to pass it on to you. She reminded me to never stop asking …

What is really important?

Sure, I understand that friends, boys, winning the championship game, even your prom dress are all important to some extent, right? But is it the MOST important? If it is, I wonder if we should stop, step back and examine our priorities.

Next time: What should be important.