{"id":9818,"date":"2016-02-28T16:47:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-28T21:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=9818"},"modified":"2016-02-28T16:47:56","modified_gmt":"2016-02-28T21:47:56","slug":"book-review-this-is-awkward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=9818","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: This is Awkward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a title=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/This-Awkward-Uncomfortable-Intimacy-Connection\/dp\/0718034937\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1456693077&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=This+is+Awkward\" href=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/41iDy+zrioL._SX326_BO1204203200_.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-9819\" alt=\"41iDy+zrioL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/41iDy+zrioL._SX326_BO1204203200_-197x300.jpg\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/41iDy+zrioL._SX326_BO1204203200_-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/41iDy+zrioL._SX326_BO1204203200_.jpg 328w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;If I could be given one superpower, I would ask for the ability to make small talk<\/em>, &#8221; says Sammy Rhodes in his book to be released this week, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/This-Awkward-Uncomfortable-Intimacy-Connection\/dp\/0718034937\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1456693077&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=This+is+Awkward\" target=\"_blank\"><em>This is Awkward<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0With that one comment, I knew that Sammy and I would get along just fine! \u00a0I have long felt like I was the master of the awkward small talk. \u00a0I&#8217;m grateful to have found someone to commiserate with about that! \u00a0I&#8217;ve long followed <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sammyrhodes\" target=\"_blank\">@sammyrhodes<\/a> on Twitter and have enjoyed his posts about ministry, Scripture, life with small kids, and the awkward things that come up in life. \u00a0I&#8217;m glad to see that he has channeled those one liners in to a book. \u00a0A book filled with both what he is writing&#8230;and a narrative on the side of what he is thinking.<\/p>\n<p>This book provides the reader with a great opportunity to get up close and personal with themself about the things that need to be discussed. \u00a0Don&#8217;t miss out on the incredible grace and mercy offered to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ by living a life that is so focused on hiding who we really are while we spend all our time trying to be someone that God never intended for us to be. \u00a0Talk about awkward! \u00a0Who can keep that charade going? \u00a0Take down the curtain, throw open the doors, and be who God intended you to be. \u00a0And if people don&#8217;t like it&#8230;they can just go back to pretending to listen to headphones or pretending to talk on the phone.<\/p>\n<p>I highlighted several things while reading&#8230;and laughing out loud. \u00a0I posted my highlights below. \u00a0I hope you will do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book as well as one for your most awkward friend.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I genuinely believe that our awkwardness and awkward moments are invitations to know more deeply the grace of God. Awkwardness is an invitation to vulnerability, and vulnerability is where intimacy and connection is found.<\/li>\n<li>What I mean is that there\u2019s a gap between what you are and what you should be, a disconnect between the real you and the ideal you. \u00a0What awkward moments (and people) do is simply shine the spotlight on that gap, revealing the cracks in our humanity, no matter how shiny and cool \u00a0we may seem on the outside.<\/li>\n<li>Awkwardness is always an invitation to admit the truth about who we really are. \u00a0And that makes us vulnerable, which is hard. \u00a0Will anyone really love me if they see all the places where I fall short?<\/li>\n<li>The reason we can be vulnerable is that the God of the universe was first vulnerable for us. \u00a0Because he has secured our forgiveness\u2014the once-and-for-all taking away of our shame\u2014vulnerability goes from being a life-threatening act to a life-giving one.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cHe who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?\u201d Romans 8:32<\/li>\n<li>If I could be given one superpower, I would ask for the ability to make small talk.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThis is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.\u201d Matthew 3:17<\/li>\n<li>It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man whois actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives\u00a0valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without\u00a0error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great\u00a0enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best\u00a0knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least\u00a0fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls\u00a0who neither know victory nor defeat. Teddy Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic,\u00a0Speech delivered at the SorbonneParis, France,\u00a0April 23, 1910<\/li>\n<li>The strength to fight for love is only found in a love so strong it fought for us. \u00a0The love of the cross that says nothing you\u2019ve done is beyond forgiveness, nothing you\u2019ve messed up is beyond repair.<\/li>\n<li>The gospel that says, \u201cI see your shame, and I still love you, and the way you can know I love you is that I\u2019ve done something about it.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The irony is that love is better than romance because real love costs, even demands, a commitment that romance never requires.<\/li>\n<li>Friendship is awkward. \u00a0The best friends are the ones who can handle our awkward.<\/li>\n<li>The courage to let others in is found in the arms of a God who has let us all the way in. \u00a0We are so far in that he calls us his sons and daughters. \u00a0We are so far in that we can never be out. \u00a0We are so far in that there is no need to RSVP to the housewarming party for the new heavens and new earth because the party won\u2019t happen without us.<\/li>\n<li>The reality is we all hide from each other, and as I mentioned earlier, we all want to be found.<\/li>\n<li>The place that God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world\u2019s deep hunger meet.\u201d \u00a0Frederick Buechner<\/li>\n<li>The beautiful thing about the gospel is that it\u2019s personality blind. \u00a0Maybe it\u2019s better to say that it speaks to every personality. \u00a0It tells Type A people to come and find rest for their weary, workaholic souls. \u00a0It tells Type B people that there is a kingdom of grace and renewal worth working and giving their lives for. \u00a0It tells the strong to be weak, and the weak to be strong. \u00a0It tells the loud to listen, and the quiet to speak.<\/li>\n<li>The thing that introverts and extroverts have in common isn\u2019t that we all like the same things or do everything in the same way. \u00a0The thing we have in common is that we need each other. \u00a0If we didn\u2019t, who would be there to talk, and who would be there to listen?<\/li>\n<li>One of the dangers of living more online that you do in reality is that you take the people who love you the most for granted, while you pursue the love of people who don\u2019t know you, much less love you, at least not the real you.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWoe to you, when all people speak well of you.\u201d \u00a0Luke 6:26<\/li>\n<li>The good news is that Jesus doesn\u2019t give side hugs. \u00a0He always invites me into the fullness of his embrace. \u00a0He\u2019s never unsure of what to do with me. \u00a0Because he knows me, I don\u2019t have to hide. \u00a0Because he died for me, I don\u2019t have to cover. \u00a0Because he is the Good Shepherd, he knows what to do with lambs. \u00a0Because he is the Lamb of God, they are always safe in his arms. \u00a0Because he knew suffering, he knows how to comfort me. \u00a0Because his suffering had cosmic purpose, he knows what to do with my suffering.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.\u201d \u00a0Nahum 1:7<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &#8220;If I could be given one superpower, I would ask for the ability to make small talk, &#8221; says Sammy Rhodes in his book to be released this week, This is Awkward. \u00a0With that one comment, I knew that Sammy and I would get along just fine! \u00a0I have long felt like I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,35,16,19,28,17,32,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-creative","category-family","category-funny","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-marriage","category-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}