The Rusty George Podcast

Rusty (00:01.237)
Okay.

That goes straight up to the fear of mix.

Rusty (00:15.203)
I got it. If that's all I gotta do, I can do that. Yeah, it should be it. Okay, thank you. You guys have kids. We have one. We just set it up. She's at Nana's house this weekend. Oh, she's a little little. She's eight to eighty, nine in May. Of course we're the same size. We need six things. Nana's the best boy. Of course.

It's easier to try different cities. There's more officials. Am I allowed to boo if you say In-N-Out? Oh. At any point today? It's gonna be said. In-N-Out is my favorite place ever. Oh, that's something I miss about California. Yeah, because it tastes different in California. It hits different? Tastes different. It's completely different, actually. It's a state of mind. It's not. If you blindfolded me and gave me a California In-N-Out burger and a Dallas one, I would be able to tell them apart. Yeah, because one had been on a plane.

Oh my. That's disgusting. In this hypothetical it didn't. They were both cooked fresh. So what we'll probably do at the beginning for those listening only on podcast is we'll go around and I'll just let you introduce yourselves and your age.

Rusty (01:27.518)
Oh, nice to meet you too. Tell me your name again. Sarah. Okay. Sarah and Andrew Day. Sarah runs the calendar. Pretty much everybody's ministry around here. Oh, she runs me. And Andrew is the comic relief around here.

Rusty (01:55.986)
It's production. Yes, production. Same thing. All right. Bye bye. Bye baby.

Rusty (02:02.062)
I noticed your teaching. One of my favorite students was Andrew Day. That's right! That was his last name. I forgot about that. Hey girls, you have to make sure you talk into the mic, okay? I noticed the last time we did this it was... Even if looking at you? Yeah, that's fine. So don't look at you? Like this? We can swing it around a little bit. Don't look at... Mother's just staring at the wall. Oh, I didn't know about this. Girls, you can also, if you stand up, you can...

lift your chair up a little bit by pushing up on the lever. So I just move it myself if I need to. Okay. Well, I just sunk mine to the ground. Okay, you have to stand up first. I see. Okay. Got it. There you go. Perfect. Thank you. All right, we're ready when you are. Okay. Do I have to say my age? No, you don't have to say your age. Okay, well you said name and age. Wait, we have to say our age? Yes. Yeah, that'd be good. You can just say you're a freshman in college. But I'm not. Okay.

Age wise, what? Just say your age. I'm all through your age. Just say your age. Mm-hmm. Well, okay, here we go. You ready? Ha ha.

Rusty (03:10.762)
This is videoed. I know, I'm gonna start laughing. I'm scared. Okay. Don't look at me once. Hey, welcome to Simple Faith. My name's Rusty George, and I'm joined by my lovely family today. It has been a long morning, serving at the Crossroads Christian Church Easter Picnic, which was a lot of fun. Thousands of people out there, many kids looking for eggs.

And it was our first Easter here and I'm joined with my family, all of whom have been on the podcast before my wife Lori, she and I did episode 100. And then the girls, Lindsay and Sydney, they did episode 200. So girls, why don't you introduce yourselves for those listening only in the car or on podcasts until maybe your age or if you don't want to do the age grade in school. I'm Lindsay. I'm a junior in college. So I'm 21. Okay.

I'm Sydney. I'm a freshman in college and I'm 19. Okay, and Lori? My name is Lori. You don't have to give your age. Okay. And I'm their mom and their wife. Yes, thank you. You're welcome. Okay, so girls, we've recently, and I say girls, all three of you, recently moved to Texas from California. And the number one question everybody's been asking me and

you Lori, and I'm sure you girls get it too, is, hey, what's it like being in Texas now instead of California? So I would love to know, you know, just what are the three things from California you miss the most? And you can't say the mountains, the beach, The weather. Or the weather, let's just say it that way, okay? So, Sydney, we'll start with you.

Okay, um, I mean I think initially moving here from Texas or from California to Texas there's a lot of culture shock and just Like the environment people all different aspects. Um, so I definitely miss Well, this is hard not saying the beach I would say in and out and I know we have in and out in texas, but it's very different. It just tastes different

Rusty (05:26.15)
I don't know, it's better in California. There will be a taste challenge. There will be, there should be. But that's where it originated, so. Okay, that's fair. That's one thing I really miss. Lindsay, why don't you go next while she's thinking of another one? Well, honestly, the drivers, though it was a lot more crowded, everybody was a lot nicer and they always let you over. We're here, no, never.

And you said that they tailgate a lot out here. Yeah. They're like right up behind you all the time. In California, they turn on your blinker and they slow down, let you over. Really? They are a lot nicer in California. I mean, obviously, you can't speak for the whole state. So do you just mean Santa Clarita Valley? No, like even in LA. Yeah, like driving on the five, I think.

There's a lot of nicer drivers. Okay. Yeah. I miss saying the word the in front of every highway. Yeah. The five, the 105. You mean the freeway. There's a little over a lot here. Yeah, the freeway. Yeah. What'd you say Lori? Something you missed from California. Oh yeah. Oh you threw me off. I thought this was just for the girls. Nope, you're up two. Okay. I am going to say, okay the state or.

Rusty (06:41.919)
It's an open-ended question, yes. Okay, well then just the obvious of the friendships that it's harder to stay close to people when they are in another state. Right. Yeah, it obviously is a big transition, especially for you and I, because when we moved to California, we only had one child. She was nine months old. So it was just you and I. And we were 30.

32, 31. So doing that in our 50s, now being empty nesters, it's a lot more challenging, don't you think? Right, yeah. And I think we might be a little less interested. Yeah. As well. Interested in what? Oh, in starting over with friendships. That's true. It's easier for just us to sit at home, watch TV, and eat dinner on the couch. Absolutely. Yes.

And yes, girls, we do watch Wheel of Fortune once in a while. We figured. The price is right. Yeah. We went downhill fast. Yeah. It really did. Okay, so Texas, obviously, now you guys are familiar with the Midwest. Texas is different though, because even though we went back to Missouri a lot because of family, and mom and I grew up in Kansas and Missouri, Texas is different. So the Midwest is a bit of a shock, and you guys have experienced that already.

in Missouri. In fact, Sid, tell everybody about your interaction with somebody who where they bought their dress and that was a big culture shock for you. Yeah, so I was in class one day at Ozark Christian College where Lindsay and I both go. And one of the girls in my class, somebody said to her, I like your dress. Like it's really cute. And she said, oh, thank you so much. I got it at Cracker Barrel.

And I was just absolutely floored because I've only been to Cracker Barrel probably like six times. Always when we were traveling. Yeah. And I just, oh. You didn't want to shop there? No. Oh man. It was rough. So just to hear that was just like the most shocking thing ever. I don't know. It was like almost disturbing. Yes. And now you're shopping there.

Rusty (08:59.238)
Okay, no, I've never shopped there. Let me just make that very clear. You know you got your Randy Travis CD singing the hymns. That's terrible. Now, Linds, you always fancied yourself as, even though you grew up in California, you were born in Kentucky, and so you felt like you had a little bit of country roots. You had to explain Chris Stapleton to some kids in class one day. So, do you feel like you're a little bit more acclimated? No, not at all. It's very different. Do you feel like you're at home? No.

It's different living here than just visiting. Okay. You're fully involved in all of it. Okay. So, what are some things, and this is for all three of you, that you've enjoyed about Texas that you think, oh, well, that's pretty cool. We didn't have that before.

Yeah, I can go first. As far as the area that we are in, I feel like we have a lot more variety in places we can shop, where before in our smaller town, or I shouldn't even say smaller town, smaller area. Yeah, the valley we lived in. The valley we lived in, yeah. There just weren't a lot of places we could go unless we went to LA. Yeah, because of the way that it's laid out here.

You're not landlocked at all. It's just the great wide open. And in California, it was pretty much the valley that you were in, and even just the church itself. We only had a few acres. We had six functional acres, 11 total. Five were on fault line. And then out here we have 140. So it's a big difference when it comes to space and everything's bigger in Texas. So what have you girls noticed?

Rusty (10:42.058)
I mean, I feel like we're a lot closer, like you said, do a lot of different things. Like we're really close to where Lindsay and I go to school. We can drive a lot more places. All the states seem to be like closer together in a sense. I mean, I know that doesn't sound like it makes sense, but. Yeah, the states you would visit. Yeah, like in California, if we wanted to get to even Nevada, it's like five hours. But here, if I wanna get to Oklahoma, it's like one hour.

like the other states are a lot more accessible. That's true. And certainly one of the reasons we wanted to get closer out here was because of, you know, your grandparents, but also for you guys to be able to drive home on the weekend and let's drive up to you, which you guys did this weekend. So thank you. Tell us about that drive. It's long.

It's only six hours. It's six hours, but most of it's through just small towns in Oklahoma. So it lasts a very long time. Just the random stoplights and the speed limit going from 80 to 25 within a matter of minutes. Yeah, cops ready for that change. So this is our first Easter here in Texas. And I remember when you guys were growing up in California, we would have some exotic animals.

at the church because they were working animals out there in California, many of which had been in movies. We had the lion from, we bought a zoo and a tiger one time. Pretty interesting things, a giraffe and a bear. Yes. Oh my. So, I mean, the animals here are a little bit different. I mean, what did we see today? We saw an anteater. Yes. A lemur. An armadillo. It was just different because people own them.

It's not like, oh, they were hired out for a movie. It's like, no, this is somebody's pet. I was like, why? We saw a longhorn. Oh, an alligator? Yes, yeah, with his mouth tied shut. Of course, just taped. Taped. I don't think they would have allowed that in California. I think Pito would have been all over that. Pito would have shut that down. Yeah, definitely. Oh, in Florida, they had him taped. Yeah, but that was like a, it's a conservation place. Hmm, interesting, okay. That's true.

Rusty (12:55.07)
Okay, so I think this would be appropriate for our listeners, a lot of whom are pastors. Pastors move, and it's difficult, but what would you say to pastors that move like when their kids get into college? Because we moved after you all had graduated from high school, so from our perspective it was like, hey, this is great because you guys have moved, now we'll move, it will be easy on them.

because they've already said goodbye, but you have told us just the opposite of that. So what should other pastors know and what would you tell us about the move? I think it probably would have been easier if we had moved when we were still in school.

because we would have had time to make connections where we are now. So that way when we came home from college, we'd have a sense of familiarity. Because instead it's like we're not fully, like freshman year, not fully comfortable at school, and then you don't have a home you feel fully comfortable in either. It's like both places are new and you don't have a place to just be. I understand that, yeah. And it was super weird for me because

you had always said like, we won't move until you graduate high school because I'm the youngest, which I really appreciated. And, um, I mean, I loved being able to graduate in California, spend my last summer there before going to college. And Lindsay had time to acclimate being at school and coming home to California the first two years that she was in college. Um, but then after we moved, um, it was just like the weirdest experience and it still kind of is to say, oh, I'm going home.

but it feels like I'm actually leaving home to go visit my parents, which I'm really thankful to get to come see you guys more often because of where you live now, but it doesn't feel like I'm going home because I don't know anybody here really. I don't have time to get to know people. And so it's just really difficult. And I almost wish that...

Rusty (14:52.498)
We had moved when Lindsey and I were still in high school, which it would have been very hard in the moment, but then we would have been able to come back and be like, oh, this is a home, like we have roots here. And like another aspect of that is when people say, oh, where are you from? I have to say, okay, I'm from California. My parents don't live there anymore and it's kind of complicated because I don't wanna say I'm from Texas because I never actually lived in Texas. And so it's just a really weird like middle ground.

have to find almost. That eventually happens.

at any point in your life. Right. So you don't have an ideal age if you're giving advice to others. Just maybe junior high or high school you feel like might have been better. Yeah, I think so. I mean, it would have been awful in the moment, but we'd be forced to make friends. Mm-hmm. So that would have helped later. Maybe before high school, something like that. Yeah. That's interesting. It is. Yeah. Lori, what have you noticed just in the move itself? You know, it kind of took, it took a while.

you know, there was a process of us saying goodbye and saying hello and making the move and all of that. You know, what have you learned? What would you say to pastors' wives out there? What have you kind of gleaned from this time that maybe you would do differently or do the same? It's a lot of questions in that. Let's see. As far as what I have learned, obviously the longer you're married, the more items you gather.

A lot more stuff, I think, right? When you agree with that. Yeah, absolutely. So you know, just through the years, take pictures of things you love, and then get rid of them. Right. I don't know. I don't know if there's a good answer for that. I would say also, in California we had a small circle of trust with friendships.

Rusty (16:50.394)
So just don't be hard on yourself. It takes time. That's what I keep telling myself, that it's okay that I don't know a lot of people and that I don't know who those core friends are gonna be. Just pray about it and make friends. Right. Yeah, you and I are in a unique situation because we're both.

introverts and so it doesn't come natural for us just to be the life of the party and meet new people and all of that so We have both had to kind of force ourselves in that a little bit. Don't you think? Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah Okay, so let's give our listeners a little bit of insight into what God's been doing in our lives Because this has been a lot of change So what do you think even though girls you didn't have to like move you just?

started going home to a different place. What's God done in your heart or what have you learned about God through this process or even what church means to you now that we have a different church? What have you learned? I think for me personally there was just a huge emphasis on God's faithfulness.

And this was in so many different areas of like trying to get adjusted to being at college, trying to get adjusted to going home somewhere else and making new friends and losing friends and just so much change, which I know Lindsey and I aren't the best with change. And so I feel like God just kept revealing over and over his faithfulness to us.

um so many different times of like him providing people him um providing opportunities and um prayers from years ago that were starting to be answered and

Rusty (18:37.794)
even though it was just the season of like the most change and a lot of confusion and Almost sometimes where it felt like they're I would struggle to see hope for what was coming or what God was doing he just made it so evident that he was working and his faithfulness in the church and in crossroads and especially seeing like what he's doing in your guys's life as our parents has been incredible because Though like one season of our lives

That was 20 plus years spent at real life was coming to a close The opportunity and faithfulness that God showed in bringing you guys here has been super evident as well. And that's something that I'm really glad The Lord was faithful to show me was that okay I might feel one way about moving but he's God is doing a lot through you guys being here And it really is just an answered prayer for I'm sure so many people at the church

for you guys as well to be able to be closer to family.

So with all that to say, I think God's faithfulness is something that he just keeps revealing to me over and over on days when it feels like I'm struggling to see that. Or times when it's just really difficult to see that there's hope, I just see God's faithfulness. And so therefore I will continue to hope because it won't end. That's great to hear. Yeah, and that's cool for us to hear. Do you guys remember saying, we'd say a lot even to ourselves.

It's not about you. Yeah. Or it's not about us. It's about what God wants. So it makes us proud to hear that you see that, even though that's been hard. Yeah. What did you say, Lynn?

Rusty (20:26.774)
Um, I think he's just been reminding me that like while i'm familiar with like sid and I's form of this grief Like moving from california to texas. There's a whole other side for you guys that I also need to be aware of and sympathetic of And like asking you questions about how you're doing because that is just as important as paying attention to my own grief but also Being as I get older friends with you and seeing what that looks like and how god is working in your life

through this, not just what's he gonna do with my own sadness. Thank you, Linds. Yeah, that's good.

I think we can all say that. Yeah, and to add to what Lindsay was saying, it's really cool to see that God is doing something new in you guys, even though one season's coming to an end of Lindsay and I living at home and being with you guys all the time to this new season of you guys moved. We are in college and have changed a lot. And it's really cool just to see that God is still working and like he's doing something new in both of you.

that even though you're empty nesters or it seems like the season of life of like prime is over it's actually not and like you're walking into a new season where God is doing so much so yeah I agree with Lindsay on that. Yeah I think you know personally for me it has been really refreshing to see how big God is in that

I felt a lot of guilt in leaving real life. And to see how great they're doing actually brings me a lot of joy, just because I just see that they're crushing it and people are coming to Christ and they'll baptize hundreds on Easter and at the time that we air this, they'll have a new lead pastor who I know and will be great and I'm just really happy for them. And it reminds me that.

Rusty (22:27.11)
It's not about me, as you said, and God uses us at certain places and times and then moves the chess pieces and uses somebody else and we're just honored to play a small part in what he's doing. So yeah, that's a lot. Yes, and just to reiterate the question, it is...

what God's doing in us in the last six months. Yes. Okay, just making sure I'm answering that correctly. Yeah, you know, for such a long time, over 30 years, we prayed for, I take that back, a little less than 30 years, we prayed for God to give us a heart for California. We found out we were moving there.

And I mean we still have that heart for California and still pray for real life and those people and our friends but most recently in the past six months since moving here, it's God give me a heart for your people, sorry, no matter where I am. And to love where I am. Yeah.

And it's been really easy for us to kind of start that process because the people here at Crossroads have been so kind and loving and nice. I've been overwhelmed with just their generosity and goodness and this has a church of a long history of kindness and goodness and to be a part of that amazing legacy. I mean, you and I have been able to meet the.

the matriarch of Crossroads, Dottie, who she and her husband started the church in their living room, you know, 55 years ago, and now to see it where it is, and it's just really cool to be a part of that legacy, so we're honored by that. Well, girls, I know that you did not wanna do this at all, but thankful for you, not only sharing with our listeners, but also being along for the ride and being so great and.

Rusty (24:39.918)
There have been highs and lows, but at the end of the day, In-N-Out Burger makes up for a multitude of difficulties, doesn't it? Yes, but not here. California In-N-Out. Good luck with that. Yes, all right.

Rusty (25:02.402)
That was great.