Long time no post

Wow, has it been ten days since the last post? Thanks for not bailing on me.* I cut out the article about SWBTS and put it on my office door. There have been a few comments, most sardonic.

Remember the neighbor across the street? The one that got me to thinking about hosting a neighborhood barbecue just to look for an opportunity to witness? Well, the other evening, he brought over a sack of veggies (his wife has a garden that is starting to overproduce) and we got to talking. Turns out that both he and his wife were raised going to church. He claimed to love the Lord and agreed that he should be going to church again. But he is working about 80-90 hours a week, so that leaves little time for anything else. He said that the barbecue was a good idea--maybe in October. Well, it would be cooler then and maybe most of the mosquitoes would have departed.

Over on Paul's site But a Poor Reflection, he has posted interview questions for me (and several other folks). Here are the questions with responses.
1. Why do you call yourself ‘Little’ David? Are you really a small guy or just very humble? Well, I am relatively short: 5'7" and shrinking as I age! My parents named me after Israel's second king, the one who evidently went up against a giant. Turns out he was short too. It would be disingenuous of me to claim that I am humble.
2. What is the biggest challenge for the church today and what can individual Christians do about that? And now for an easy question, eh, Paul? Churches in this century have a huge variety of contexts, particularly when compared to the first-century church. In some ways, the (biblical) advice given to them just does not connect today. But in a meaningful way, what the gospel writers have relayed to us about Jesus' words and actions, as well as St. Paul's advice to the beleaguered church, still speak to us now. The age-old challenge that I observe in churches I have called home is that of dying to self. We (and I am really a part of this crowd) still want God to sanctify us according to our ideas rather than submitting to what God has in mind for us. We want to be served rather than to serve. We want to be fed rather than to feed. In short, we continue to be babies. The most that an individual Christian can do about that is to constantly submit oneself to the Lordship of Christ: hear the Word, obey the Word.
3. You visited all the continents, except South America. What’s wrong with South America? ;-) And: if you had to move to South America, please tell us the preferred country and explain your choice. Nothing personal, really. I would have to polish up my Spanish or learn Portuguese in order to fully appreciate the experience. Curiously enough, since participating in an online conference several months ago, I have started a correspondence with a fellow from Guyana who is studying in England. I used Google Earth to locate his hometown in Guyana and to look at photos of the area. The photos revealed poverty and natural beauty, not unlike most parts of Africa. I think that I would like to visit this student. Who knows? Maybe I COULD live there.
4. The North Pole is melting. Do you care about this and do you think Canada, Denmark or Russia are entitled to claim the melted ice / the part of the globe where the ice used to be? Yes, I do care about global climate change and the consequent melting of the poles. I am ashamed of the inadequate response my country has made to this issue. As far as the northern countries claiming more land, though I have not pondered this before, my initial reaction is, sure, go ahead. If you can do something useful with it before the next ice age, be my guest.
5. You have rescued a highly talented artist out of a life-threatening situation. As a reward he offers to make something for you – for free! Please dream with me – what kind of artist would you like this to be and what would you like him / her to make for you? Hmm. Seeing as I have several artists in my family who have already produced some wonderful watercolors, oil paintings, pastels, and sculptures, I think that I would ask for music. Truly great music transcends the ages and touches the subconscious over and over. Purely instrumental would be fine and if there were lyrics, they could be in another language, I wouldn't mind (OK, well, I am not all that wild about German).

Those are my answers and here are the rules I agreed to:
1. If you are interested in being interviewed, leave me a comment saying “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by posting five questions for you. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

*Note to Carolanne and Paul--"bailing" = "bailing out, leaving unceremoniously"