A little about me, more to come

Posted by: David Carroll

DavidMy name is David Carroll and I am your host on this site. I am a software developer and a Bible teacher.

Remember when reading blogs, the entries are in reverse chronological order so the most recent entry is always at the top. So you should read from the bottom up if you are trying to catch up.

I started blogging in 2003, when I began blogging a Daily Devotional in which I commented on my bible reading for the day. Actually it was a way to motivate my class to read the Bible through in a year. I told them that I would be accountable to them in my own reading by writing a a daily commentary on what I had read that day.

Sometimes I record Sunday School lessons and make them available as mp3 files and as a podcast.

I also teach a ten week Creation Science Course at my church which I have taught for six years now.

One of my hobbies is photography. From May 1999 to June 2000, I kept a diary of my experiences learning landscape photography. Currently, I put most of my public photos on flickr.com. You can find older public photos here on a slower server I keep at my house.

Of course since I am a software developer, I also spend a lot of time on the Internet. I also post links to interesting things I find on the Internet.  I have divided the links into two main categores which are developing software and other stuff. You can see the rest of my posts either by category or by date in the Archive.

If you know what an RSS reader is (also known as an aggregator) you can subscribe to my RSS feed.

You can email me by clicking on my name in the upper right corner of the page.

This page just a listing of various blog posts which have been categorized “AboutMe.” This way, I don’t have to write the whole thing at once (how boring!), but as I have time and the inclination.

You can already gather from reading my blog that I am a Christian and a Software Developer. I have not always been either. In fact I used to be a carpenter running my own remodelling busiiness for ten years. That is actually how I met Delaine my precious wife. She was the executive secretary for Wrangler Mens wear sales office in Memphis where I was doing a remodelling job. I kept wanting to ask her for a date but I could not seem to work up the nerve or the right time just never availed itself. Needless to say, I lost a lot of money on that job extending it for several weeks beyond necessary just to hang around her. Well I finally asked her out and we fell in love (me before her ). And now we live happily ever after.

I have a daughter Bethany who will be 20 this January, 2006. She is a sophmore at Samford University in Birmingham Alabama. She has a blog too.

Back to my not always having been a Christian. No one is born a Christian; that is why it is called being born again. Anyway, I don’t have time for that story now, but I’ll leave you with this: I almost got saved five different times over twenty years but it was the sixth time that I surrendered my life to
Christ, back in 1980 (or there abouts)

Also, I’ll write more about my hobbies and other things I like to do later.

Tumor on my spinal column in my neck

Posted by: David Carroll

The radiologists have discovered a growing tumor on my spinal cord in my neck which is about 1 inch long and about .5 in wide. It has displaced the nerve and has deformed some of the vertebra in my neck. I am not sure if it is related to my continuing problems with my leg and back pain but it could be. Anyway, it requires immediate attention since it could cause complete paralysis at any time. I am going in for surgery next Tuesday (Dec 13, 2005) at 1:00. They will have to remove quite a bit of bone to get at the tumor to remove it so it will require a triple fusion as well. I'll be in a neck brace for several months.

I covet your prayers for me, my surgeon, and especially for my wife Delaine and my daughter Bethany. She was doing fine until I was talking with her on the phone and started to quote all the scripture verses I am standing on. That's when she started crying but it is a sweet thing to have your daughter say that she depends on my faith to bolster hers because somehow I draw her closer to Christ. Of course I can only reflect my own utter dependence on my Lord and implore her to trust in Him too. People will disappoint you but Jesus will never do so. I am confident I am in his perfect will and that he is sustaining me.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NKJV)

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

I have been suffering from chronic pain for the past three years in my lower back and legs. I have been through one discectomy and a fusion of the L5/S1 joint already neither of which have resolved the pain. I have asked the Lord to remove my pain from me numerous times. But since it has not been His good pleasure to do so, I decided to go to a pain clinic recently. The neurologist there observed something unusual about my reflexes and decided to order a cervical MRI. That was last Monday and the diagnosis came Tuesday. I remember noticing the unusual mass while looking at the X-Rays on a makeshift lightbox using my computer monitor and a white background. I figured I did not know what I was looking at but the urgent and somber call came the next day confirming my suspicions.

By the way, I am in perfect peace about this because the circumstances which led to this discovery. The upshot of it is that had it not been for the low back pain which is still bothering me after two failed back surgeries and three years, I would never have gone to the pain clinic. My doctor commented that somebody up there must really like me. So I introduced him to the One so takes such pleasure in me.

Praise God for the pain!