« November 2005 | January 2006 »
Posted by David Carroll
Last time I wrote about Hearing God, I discussed how there were three lights: circumstances, impressions of spirit, and passages of scripture that must somehow lineup without which, they tend to discount the veracity of whether such a message could be a “voice” from God for you at that moment.The most important quality of knowing God’s voice is the same as knowing a person’s voice…familiarity. It is our familiarity with God’s voice that allows us to recognize it. Song of Solomon 2:8; 5:2a (NKJV)The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills.I sleep, but my
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Posted by David Carroll
Recent Update 12/28 at bottom of this postI was beat up tired when I awoke this morning. As I laid in my bed which is my recliner in my office, (I know, it’s weird but it works for me) for about thirty minutes I tested moving muscles, and testing out joints that had stiffened in the night. Then the time to arise arose. Now, the trick to this recliner is that it does not allow your feet to get completely under you body weight as they are pushed out in front of you by the bottom part of the recliner. For the normal healthy person,
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Posted by David Carroll
I get these taken out Friday, I can’t wait for the skin to seal up really tight so that I can qualify to get in the hot tub! Boy will that ever feel good. Thank you Lord for hope in the small details.
Posted by David Carroll
This was a very delightful dinner we had on Christmas Eve. We had all the traditional items: ham, turkey, green bean casserole (yum) sweet potatoes (double yum) and cranberries (smack my lips). The decorations were beautiful (notice the white porcelain creche). Of course we prayed before dinner and I got a little emotional about all that he has done for us while we seem to just cast the value aside without demonstrating the incredible love and sacrifice that went to achieve successes I was not very comfortable in my chair since no straight chair is that easy to sit in at
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Posted by David Carroll
Just a few Christmas season memories today. This is a video lesson I did last year and thought you might want to watch it if you have not yet seen it to learn about the scientific possibilities regarding the mystery of the Star. If you are interested in astronomy or history and how this can confirm the Biblical text, you might like this one. It’s a 43.5 mb Flash file, be patient and use your fulll screen to view.Also, I recorded some short audio thoughts (1 min 48 secs) last year about the Star of Bethlehem.Enjoy and God BlessP.S.: my appetite came back today! I
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Posted by David Carroll
When I found about the tumor on my neck, I knew it was serious because of how serious the Docs were. By every measure of medical history, the surgery was a success, the tumor was completely removed, the patient made home from the hospital without complications, etc. But operating on a tumor embedded around your spinal column and en-snarled among the nerve branches exiting the column toward your left arm, all this being done with a laser knife and a microscope under the hands of a skilled neuro-surgeon. it is not an easy surgery. Plus the fact that the tumor and
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Posted by David Carroll
Praise God I am here though. I’ll have to say a bit more about the difficulties and triumphs at the hospital the a last few days.
And I will when I get some more strength. Suffice it to say for now, that the heater was broken, the Internet line was broken, So admist all the prescriptions, well-wishers, I had to get the heater fixed, and the Internet fixed. The heater part was pretty easy, but I had to get way too involved on diagnosing Internet part.
Anyway Got home today and still hurting like the dickens.
Posted by David Carroll
This is going to be short and sweet. Blogging without internet access is a real pain in the neck (no pun intended). Thank you Bethany for keeping everybody up to date. Things have not progressed as well as we had hoped, particularly my physical therapy. Because of the severe pain, I haven’t been able to get out of this bed much at all. Only twice in fact, and both of those were near disasters. Pain level is close to 10, much dizziness and sweatiness. How can anyone be happy and joyful in the hospital for 5 days? Well, let me count the
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Posted by David Carroll
Surgery successful. Hurting really bad. Jesus is still sweet. Feeling a little bit better in the last couple of hours. Witnessing a little bit more. Sorry for the short post, gotta go. Hopefully I'll be home this weekend. Bethany is blogging this for me. Grace and Peace.
Posted by David Carroll
Proverbs 19:21 (NKJV)There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel that will standI almost drank a cup of coffee. Wow, not supposed to eat or drink anything after midnight. Thank you Lord for reminding me.Psalm 91:1-2 (NKJV)He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”This is where I stand. No fear. Just trust. I had a good night’s sleep. Thank you Lord.Psalm 127:2 (NKJV)It is vain for
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Posted by David Carroll
I just remembered a wonderfully moving experience I had on my recent trip to Manauga Nicaragua. I went there to do some due diligence for the Bellevue Foundation to determine how we could partner up with the Baptist Theological Seminary of Nicaragua. There are a bunch of photos of that trip on my Flicker site.Anyway, the class of students studying the ministry of Pastoral Care knew I was having back trouble and stayed behind to ask if they could pray for me. I was in a meeting but said I would be most honored if they could do that after the meeting.
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Posted by David Carroll
I’ve been here before. The night before surgery when all is quiet in the house. All the bills are paid, all the emails are written and my dog is snuggled up in his kennel with hopes of his buddy coming to get him soon. Which means, I have nothing left to keep my mind off the surgery anymore. The questions are after I fall to sleep, am I going to wake up hurting, paralysed, nauseated (no doubt about that one), or in the arms of my Jesus. I am going to try to be spiritual here (meaning really believing in my
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Posted by David Carroll
Dallas Willard talks about three lights that form a sort of check and balance whether what we “hear” from God is true or not. They are:Circumstances
Impressions of the Spirit
Passages from the BibleIt is suggested that when these three point in the same direction, we can be assured it points to where God would have us go. This perhaps sounds too much like a formula or a gimmick which we would not expect to be so simple but let’s examine it.First of all, there is no doubt you must have a working familiarity and a confidence in the recognition of these “lights.” What if you
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Posted by David Carroll
My 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
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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
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I posted about the Emerging Church the other day. Here is an interesting post, You Might Be Emerging If..., that is in a funny way accurately descriptive since it seems to appeal to the actual emergents themselves judging from the comments. I don’t get most of it but I still think it is a significant movement with the young generation.
Posted by David Carroll
Some people always have a hilariously funny story about stuff that happens to them. One such person is Phil Johnson. I read his blog and noticed a story about my beloved pastor Adrian Rogers. Although it’s funny from Phil’s perspective, it really illustrates the graciousness of Adrian Rogers. I laughed till I cried and then cried some more when I thought about Pastor Rogers.I want to say something about the passing of Adrian Rogers. I had the highest respect for him, a great love for his preaching ministry, and a special appreciation for the courage and diligence he showed in resisting the erosion
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Posted by David Carroll
There is a lot of buzz about the upcoming movie The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, and naturally there is a heightened interest in C.S. Lewis as a Christian apoligist with a wonderful storytelling ability. Andrew Hoffecker wrote a good article on this in the Reformation 21 » December feature. God is more truly imagined than expressed, and He exists more truly than He is imagined. – AugustineNot only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.– Sir Arthur EddingtonI think God delights in our imagination of Him. After all, Jesus used imaginative parables to illustrate truth in a way that
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Posted by David Carroll
I am still trying to figure out what the Emerging Church movement is. The few people I've asked at church about this, don’t seem to know much about it.. Most of the discussion seems to be occurring on the Internet. But I don’t think it is insignificant.My take is that it is somewhat of a young, ecumenical, worship centered, slightly charismatic. The common denominator seems to be a suspicion of traditional church and a desire to have a more meaningful religious experience. John Hammett, Professor at Southeastern Theological Seminary, presented a paper available here: An Ecclesiological Assessment of the Emerging Church Movement.
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