Ryan Guard

Your Hope: Christ In You

Have you ever listened to a sermon that changed your life forever? I have twice. The first one was in 2001 at Forest Home, and the second one was 4 years later at Passion ‘05. Louie Giglio said this,

The question isn’t, “Do you know where you will go if you die tonight?” It’s, “If you don’t die, do you have the hope & confidence of a power source that will enable you to live triumphantly tomorrow?”

He went on to unpack Colossians 1:27, which speaks of Christ being in us, giving us that power to live triumphantly in this life.

It hit me like a wrecking ball. I’ve heard other people say similar things at that point, but for some reason those words grabbed me and have stuck with me ever since. That sermon that night changed me.

I’m sharing a similar sermon this weekend, and my prayer is that God will give many of the people in the crowd the same life-altering, world-view shattering experience.

Gavin is here!

Our baby boy is home!

Gavin has been home for two nights now. He’s eating and sleeping really well, although I can’t say the same for his mommy! She’s been really strong this week and I’m so proud of her.

Gavin’s cleft lip makes feeding him a little more challenging than a typical baby, but he’s really getting the hang of it. We were able to get a really good idea of what to expect with his cleft lip and pallet while Lindsay was pregnant, and so far things haven’t been too difficult. The most difficult things when it comes to feeding him is keeping him awake long enough to eat!

He will have plastic surgery in 3 months to repair his lip and nose, and then another surgery at 8 months to repair his pallet. Until then he’ll have what Lindsay calls a “fancy face”. I like that :)

We’ve seen some really great “before and after” photos of babies who have had the surgery. We’re super encouraged by the confidence of Gavin’s surgical team. He might have a minor scar on his lip when he grows up, but everyone knows that chicks dig scars.

He’s gangly like daddy and has adorable blonde hair like his mommy. He sleeps allllll day like his mommy and he gets grumps once in a while for no reason like his daddy.

Both of our boys have pretty remarkable stories already. We wouldn’t want it any other way!

Any Day Now

Every time my phone rings I wonder if it’s my wife, and every time it’s my wife I wonder if she’s going to tell me she’s going into labor.

We are so close.

Lindsay’s due date is the 28th, but the baby weighs about 43 pounds right now, so it could happen at any moment.

She’s scheduled to be induced on Monday, but my phone could ring in the next few minutes. I might not finish this blog.

If you haven’t been keeping up on our story, you might want to read my wife’s previous blog post before you see us post a photo of our mystery baby. He or she will have a funny little smile for a few months, one that we’ve already fallen in love with.

I slept well last night. I’m just writing that because I’m not sure when I’ll be able to say that again.