Beyond Awkward

Spoiler alert: Talking about Jesus is awkward. We love to share good news with the world. We tweet about a great new restaurant, we share pictures of our newborn child and we celebrate about receiving that sought-after promotion. We are evangelists for many great things. So why don't we do the same with Jesus? It's not hard to see that we bring our own anxieties and awkwardness into every evangelistic conversation. Not to mention the often vast differences between our experiences of God and religion and those of the people around us. And then there's the inner awkwardness of our conversation partners, who are actively contending, even unconsciously, with the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Evangelism is awkward, yes. But on the other side of that awkwardness is something amazing: transformed lives, healed relationships, new vision, eternal life. After spending years working with college students and churchgoers, Beau Crosetto hasn't solved the problem of awkwardness in evangelism. But he's learned how to push through it and how we can set ourselves and those we love at ease as we enter into conversations of eternal consequence. Read this book and move beyond awkward into the most awesome privilege of God's people: proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.

It Doesn’t Have to Be This Weird When it comes to relationships between men and women, we have more questions than answers: How do we keep relationships with the opposite sex healthy—and still hug each other after small group? Is it possible for married men and women to be friends with people of the opposite sex? What does it mean to be a woman if you’re not a wife, or a man if you’re not a husband? Jesus’ pattern for church living was one of family—of brothers and sisters living in intimate, life-giving community with each other. With story, sensitivity, and hope, Beyond Awkward Side Hugs invites us to leave behind eroticized, fear-based patterns and move toward gendered, generous relationships between men and women of character as we love one another as Jesus did. “Beyond Awkward Side Hugs is a deep well of biblical wisdom, and Lea has written with nuance and clarity, humor and grace.” —Jen Pollock Michel, author of Surprised by Paradox and Keeping Place “The church desperately needs a bigger vision for how men and women can flourish together in ministry and friendship, and Bronwyn Lea paints a vivid picture for how we’ll get there.” —Steve Wiens, author of Shining Like the Sun, Beginnings, and Whole

"This book has everything I like! Hot hero, strong heroine, kidnapping, a second chance, set in Alaska, and enough suspense to keep me turning the pages as fast as I can!" –New York Times bestselling author Susan Stoker. When Darby O'Roarke wakes up in a strange house with a dead man - with no memory of what happened - she knows who she has to call: FBI Supervisory Special Agent Eban Winters...the man she fell for, and who rejected her, last summer. A negotiator isn't supposed to get involved with kidnap victims, and Eban has been trying to avoid the temptation that is Darby O'Roarke ever since they met. One frantic phone call has him racing to Alaska to uncover the truth, but he faces stubborn opposition from the local police, and a growing media frenzy. Getting Darby released from jail and keeping her safe is his first priority. When another woman is brutally slain, evidence emerges that suggests Darby is being framed, and that the culprit is a vicious serial killer who has eluded the FBI for more than a decade...and, now, the killer has Darby in their sights. A Daphne Du Maurier Award For Excellence In Mystery/Romantic Suspense finalist. All the books can be read as standalone titles. Thrilling plots with guaranteed happily ever afters—they do contain strong language. For fans of Laura Griffin, Karen Rose, and Sandra Brown.

Structuring Sense explores the difference between words however defined and structures however constructed. It sets out to demonstrate over three volumes that the explanation of linguistic competence should be shifted from lexical entry to syntactic structure, from memory of words to manipulation of rules. Its reformulation of how grammar and lexicon interact has profound implications for linguistic, philosophical, and psychological theories about human mind and language. Hagit Borer departs from language specific constructional approaches and from lexicalist approaches to argue that universal hierarchical structures determine interpretation, and that language variation emerges from the morphological and phonological properties of inflectional material. Taking Form, the third and final volume of Structuring Sense, applies this radical approach to the construction of complex words. Integrating research in syntax and morphology, the author develops a new model of word formation, arguing that on the one hand the basic building blocks of language are rigid semantic and syntactic functions, while on the other hand they are roots, which in themselves are but packets of phonological information, and are devoid of both meaning and grammatical properties of any kind. Within such a model, syntactic category, syntactic selection and argument structure are all mediated through syntactic structures projected from rigid functions, or alternatively, constructed through general combinatorial principles of syntax, such as Chomsky's Merge. The meaning of 'words', in turn, does not involve the existence of lexemes, but rather the matching of a well-defined and phonologically articulated syntactic domain with conceptual Content, itself outside the domain of language as such. In a departure from most current models of syntax but in line with many philosophical traditions, then, the Exo-Skeletal model partitions 'meaning' into formal functions, on the one hand, and Content, on the other hand. While the former are read off syntactico-semantic structures as is usually assumed, Content is crucially read off syntactico-phonological structures.

"Year 18" follows 18-year-old Rebecca Whitmore through her senior year of high school, where she struggles with her past and fights to find hope for her future. To combat her depression and loneliness, she forms an imaginary friendship with fictional characters she created for a school project, beginning a punishing battle between her idealized inner world and the real world outside.

The Annual Christkindl Market is underway in the mountain town of Spruce Ridge, Colorado. With all the festivities, Delaney Morran hopes for a romantic holiday with her new boyfriend, Sheriff Ephraim Lopez. As for the sheriff, his only wish is to make Delaney’s Christmas the best ever. But when Delaney and Ephraim look for the perfect tree, Delaney finds the body of a homicide victim in the tree lot, pushing all thoughts of a cozy Christmas from her mind. How can she buy a Christmas tree after discovering a body under the boughs? And will her best friend’s coffee kiosk be a success with the threat of a murderer on the loose? In addition to being known as the high-heeled tow truck driver, Delaney is becoming a pretty good amateur sleuth, so in between taking care of tows, Delaney sets about to solve the crime.

The Moderator's Survival Guide is your indispensable resource for navigating the rocky shoals of your one-on-one user research sessions. Inside, you’ll find guidance for nearly 100 diverse situations (ranging from business-as-usual to tricky and sticky) that might occur during usability studies, contextual inquiries, or user interviews. As a moderator, you are responsible for the well-being of the participant, your study, and your organization. You must be prepared for anything that may happen, from your technology failing to the participant quailing. Use this guide to identify your best next steps, react appropriately, and survive any challenges that comes your way. Practical, field-tested, and actionable tips for what to do and say—and what NOT to do or say—in each situation. Key patterns and extensive examples to sharpen your approach to the commonplace and prepare you for the unlikely. Illustrative "survival stories" contributed by numerous professionals on the front lines of user research.

Gracie has never felt like this before. One day, she suddenly can’t breathe, can’t walk, can’t anything—and the reason is standing right there in front of her, all tall and weirdly good-looking: A.J. But it turns out A.J. likes not Gracie but Gracie’s beautiful best friend, Sienna. Obviously Gracie is happy for Sienna. Super happy! She helps Sienna compose the best texts, responding to A.J.’s surprisingly funny and appealing texts, just as if she were Sienna. Because Gracie is fine. Always! She’s had lots of practice being the sidekick, second-best. It’s all good. Well, almost all. She’s trying. Funny and tender, Well, That Was Awkward goes deep into the heart of middle school, and finds that even with all the heartbreak, there can be explosions of hope and moments of perfect happiness.