Lindsay Guard

So its been a while….

Not much new here…oh except that big move we made back to Arizona! It has been almost two weeks now since we have been back and today I finally feel like the whirlwinds have calmed, at least for now. We’re finally “settled” into our room at Brian and Promise Wurzell’s house and are enjoying communal living These two peeps are super fun and creative and I feel encouraged and challenged just being surrounded by so much energy! I am now facing the daunting task of finding a house and finding a job. Yuck! Didn’t I just do that?? We have an offer out on a house right now so we’re waiting to hear back and hoping and praying that God would hear our desires to use our home for serving and land us in the best place possible to do that. I am excited about all of it because I have never picked out my own house! When Ryan and I got married I moved into his house, so although that is where our first memories are, it never really felt like mine. All I keep dreaming about is making my home a place for people to use, escape to, visit, rest, play, mourn, etc. Not to mention my craving for a yellow guest room and orange kitchen

I’m excited about this new adventure back in Arizona. Its strange being back, but not really “back”, ya know? We are about 15 minutes from where we lived before our move to California so we’re close enough that we’ve plopped back down into our community of friends we had here, but we’re at a new church so there are still unfamiliar faces and things to learn. We could not be more excited about being a part of Mission Community Church (formerly Superstition Springs Community Church). We love the heartbeat of this place and the faith of the men and women leading it. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use Ryan in his new role as Student Ministries Pastor! I think this was what I was most excited for because I know that as Ryan’s wife, I get to see and hear a lot more of his heart than anyone else and his vision for what students can do for the sake of God’s Kingdom is inspiring! I know with confidence that Ryan was ready for this new role, not only because of the gifts he has but also because of his desire to learn and be taught and be stretched by God.  There is not much more satisfying as a wife than to see your husband being used to his full potential in the place God has called him to! Amen ladies?!

So, with this new adventure comes a renewed desire for me to write more. I want to be able to reflect out loud on my crazy life and what God is doing in it. No more pressure to have the “perfect” blog or most eloquent words, just real life thoughts. Stay tuned.

So, usually when Ryan is gone I have a hard time falling asleep.   Not necessarily because I’m scared (at least not anymore) but because he sleeps with a fan next to the bed every single night but when he isn’t there, I definitely don’t use the fan. This, in turn, means that I can hear every single noise in the neighborhood. I guess after 2 years of marriage I’ve grown accustom to having “white noise” to fall asleep to! Last night was different though, I had no problem falling asleep thanks to this new schedule of working 8-5 M-F…whats up with that?? I think I may have slept TOO well though cause this was my morning…

I spontaneously waken myself, immediately grabbing my phone to check the time. 7:37?!?!?!?! Holy cow, I try to leave for work at 7:35!!  I don’t even remember my feet touching the ground as I run to the bathroom, clothes flying every which way. I immediately start a checklist of things to do and categorize them in order of importance! I just thank my sweet Jesus that its casual Friday and I don’t have to try as hard to look nice!! I throw on a pair of jeans that I luckily remembered to put in the dryer before I went to bed. Rummage through my closet for the most appropriate, lowest maintenance shirt and barely get it over my head as I’m running out the door to take Bella to go potty. Oh yes, I couldn’t just leave Bella alone all day without taking her out….a good 4 minute routine.

She is super confused by all the commotion and can’t be anywhere but right under my feet. I’m stumblnig down the stairs, toothbrush in tow, foaming at the mouth with Colgate. A quick thought of “dear god, don’t let any of my neighbors be outside right now” but at this point, I really didn’t care. Poor Bella has to potty under pressure, I spit and rinse in the bushes, no time to leash the dog just let her chase me up the stairs, knocking a nice fat cut on my lip from teh toothbrush on the way up!

I get back inside, run some mascara through my eyelashes, bronze my face a bit and go, only stopping to grab some Girl Scout cookies and a Diet Coke on my way for a nice balanced breakfast.   Luckily, Ryan and I switched cars for his trip so his keyless remote entry saves me a few seconds, however, the seat and mirror adjustment makes up for my “spare” time. And of course, wouldn’t you konw, the one time we switch cars he happens to have bad tires and warns me to “drive slowly and cautiously this weekend”. Yeah right! I’m tearing out of our complex like a bat outta hell!

I honestly don’t remember much of the drive to work except for the minivan mom who couldn’t get enough of her brakes this morning! I pull into the parking lot at work, check the time, and lo and behold its only 8:02!! Not bad for Pokey Little Puppy. The fun didn’t stop there though, I get to the desk only to realize that the teeny, tiny little key that opens the cabinet containing everything I need for work is on MY keyring….with Ryan….in Yucaipa. You’ve GOT to be kidding me!  Lucky for me, my supervisor has an extra key for me to use. as I’m fanning myself to ward off heatstroke and explaining my morning to her she smiles and replies, “Oh, as long as you’re here by 8:30 in the mornings, I have no problem with that”.

UGH!! TGIF

P.S. Sorry about all the typos, this computer at work is weird and some of the “widgets” on my WordPress dashboard are covering up half of the writing space so I can’t see what I’m writing!

This past Sunday, the beautiful home of one of Calvary’s pastors tragically caught fire and was nearly destroyed. Check out this article about the heart of our community here and the steadfast faith of the Sherman family…

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fire-house-sherman-2310073-home-santa

Its just incredible the spirit John and his family have towards this and the chance they are seizing to share where our true value comes from! Thank you Jesus for the lessons we’ll all take away from this and for keeping the Sherman family safe!

So, I totally missed the live inauguration this morning. Who knew it was on so early?? Anyways, I have caught the tail end of celebrations and news coverage. There is one side who is celebrating a new president, rightfully so, but there is another side who can’t get over slamming former President George W. Bush.  I have heard remarks such as, “now we can finally all come together to make this nation better” and “it is now our civic duty to support our President and get behind  his efforts”. What urks me is that the people of this country let their differences and one man’s decisions get in the way of coming together in our own communities. Like George Bush was standing in the way of neighborly love and equal rights? I’m disappointed in how whiney our citizens were during his administration and how they couldn’t seem to move on and work together, even if it was inspite of the president. Now, all of  a sudden, because he is the first black president, our country’s problems are going to be solved and we will all be “united”. So we had to wait for someone like this to take office in order for us all to get along? It wasn’t our civic duty to support our last president? Obama isn’t a god, Bush wasn’t satan. Blah, just had to get that off my chest!  Anyways…

I’m looking forward to President Obama’s administration. I actually feel confident in Michelle Obama…she seems like a strong woman who won’t let her man make a stupid decision! (I’m sure Obama will have his fair share of those though) I appreciate the service Bush gave to our country. I pray that America can make a huge turnaround and that our leaders will “unite” instead of playing petty power games. What I really want to see is people coming together on the grassroots level though. Our President makes big decisions that direct our country and affect our daily lives, but its up to us to ensure that the people of this country continue loving each other and work from the bottom up to reallly lead us into a new future.

Just when I thought the world was hopeless

Saw this article online today and the tag line caught my attention. Newsweek: Bible isn’t against gay marriage.

Not sure what I think about the article. Seems as if scripture is being stretched and used out of contexts. I get pretty frustrated when reading something and its pretty obvious the author has no authority on the issue. What do you think?

I’ve been trying very hard to not blog about the election. Now, I was a political science student and even worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, but this has been the most even-keeled I’ve been during an election. I’ve been really excited about what has been going on in my heart that has kept me from getting too fired up. I think I should thank my hubby, Ryan, for being an example to me of someone who can zoom out and see big picture of what is going on. He has taught me that God is still very intricately involved in restoring and renewing life right now, here on Earth.

I have noticed since the election that Christians are super worried about the causes of our faith now that Obama has been elected. First of all, McCain is no superhero savior. I’m not sure our causes would be any better off with him but that’s not my point. Here is my point…

Proverbs 29:7

“The righteous care about justice for the poor,
but the wicked have no such concern”

Matthew 10:42

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward”.

Matthew 28:19

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

These are just a few verses that come to mind when I think about who’s burden it is to care about the things God cares about. It would be AMAZING to have a president who had a faith that was undeniable, clear, and apparent in their policy but we don’t have that. We wouldn’t have it in either situation but even if we did, the call to protect the unborn still falls on our shoulders. The call to treat all people as equal in the eyes of God falls on our shoulders. The call to make sure mouths are fed and people have access to health care falls on our shoulders.

How do we do this? Matthew 28:19

What if Christians infiltrated our workplaces, neighborhoods, parks, grocery stores, Starbucks, malls, apartment complexes, post offices, DMV waiting rooms, doctors offices, etc? What if we lived lives so radically different but with such gentle loving-kindness that even the mailman knew there was something different about you? What if we were the ones having conversations with our daughters, nieces, students and friends about the sanctity of life and the importance of purity? We need to be the ones sacrificing to care for the needs of that man who supposedly sleeps in the “boneyard” of our church. These are God’s people.

I know this is a bunch of ideological passion talk, but it is also what has been handed to us as a Church. I don’t have all the answers. I’m still wrestling with how to do it all but but we’ve also been told “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” -Jesus

Lets pray for Obama. Lets pray for the men and women who he will appoint to his cabinet. Lets pray for the believers who are a part of our federal government. Lets pray that God would place people in the lives of the Obama family who would be the voice of Holiness. And lets not forget that God never allows anything to happen that doesn’t fit in the palm of His hand!

I’ve been tagged by Nicole to share 7 interesting things about myself! It didn’t take long to figure out what I wanted to say…not because I think I’m THAT interesting, but because I’m constantly analyzing who I am! So here goes…

1. I eat french fries in twos. I don’t know why, but I cannot eat just one fry at a time, nor do I desire to grab three or more. I like things in evens.

3. I am maybe the most indecisive person you’ll ever meet. I think about things so much that I rarely make a spontaneous decision. My mom would second this and tells people all the time that I was even so indecisive as a little girl that when she would take me grocery shopping, she would drop me off in the candy aisle, tell me to pick one thing out that she would buy me, and then go do her shopping. I would stand there looking at the candy trying to decide what I wanted for so long that she would come pick me up from that aisle when she was done and it was time to check out!

4. I was born tongue-tied. Yep, my tongue was connected to the bottom of my mouth and the doctors had to surgically disconnect so that I would be able to talk I have a little divot at the tip of my tongue because of it, I’ll show you sometime.

5. I’m a recovering hypochondriac. It all started a few years ago when I was having serious stomach problems. I would just get intense stomach pain, nausea, and feel full after eating two bites of food. No doctor could find anything wrong so I started to think they were missing something. Soooooo…Dr. Lindsay discovered webMd.com and started to diagnose myself. Of course, I picked the worst case scenario (I’m also a recovering pessimist) and it all spiraled out of control from there. I’m happy to say I do not have leukemia….just a super acidic stomach that I take Prilosec for every morning

6. I may be quiet, but I usually do have something to say. I would call myself an introvert. I internalize things and am uncomfortable in a huge group of people. Thus, I tend to be pretty quiet, but don’t let that fool you. I’m probably just thinking of all the things I want to say, but don’t really feel the need to compete with the people who love to talk. Also, a lot of the time, what I’m thinking might get me in trouble if I say them out loud. I’m a rebel stuck inside a quiet girl’s body. Poor Ryan is the only person who ever sees that rebel creep out

7. I relate smells to memories moreso than any other sense. I love when I smell something that floods my mind with different parts of my life. I can look at a picture of Christmas at my grandma’s house and be able to reminisce, but if I smell brewing coffee during the winter, I’m actually back at my grandma’s house crammed in the living room with the rest of my cousins playing “hide the spoon”. I love, love, love the smell of no bake cookies, my dad’s Polo cologne, cut grass, magnolias, Curve perfume, cigarette smoke (I know, weird, but thats my grandma swain), and flowers hot from the sun.

So here are the next 7 victims, mwaahaha Katie Sterbenz, Libby Snow, Katy Lang, Alyssa Burgess, Katelyn Sherman, Michelle Doan, Kelly Burgess