Hot Seat – Mr. Carroll

This past Wednesday night we had the Hot Seat and Susan Androsuk and Mr. Carroll were our participants. Saturday, I shared Susan’s answers and now here are Mr. C’s answers to some of your questions, some which were asked on Wednesday and some we didn’t get to.

What is your favorite…

• Color -  Blue
• Bible verse - Romans 12:1,2
• Christmas song - The Christmas Song
• Kind of food -  Lasagna
• TV show - Wipeout
• Thing about church - Learning about God and Fellowship with other believers
• Type of music - Classical (Bach)
• Drink - Water with lemon
• Car - Corvette

Are there times you find doing your devotions difficult and why?

• Yes.  Time constraints,job, family, health (working out and sleep) all take time.  I found that doing my devotions while eating breakfast works the best for me.

Who was influential in you first going to church?

• A co-worker.  While in college, I did not attend very often.

Can you share one of you most embarrassing moments with us?

• In college, someone stole my clothes and towel while I was in the shower.  I had to run down the hall to my room with nothing to wear but a wash cloth.

Do you pray before you go to bed?

• I used to, especially when Beth was pregnant.  I have kind of migrated that prayer to the first thing when I wake up or prior to eating breakfast.

Have you ever felt God wasn’t listening?

• I’ve thought about this question some more and I would say that I have always felt that God was listening when I prayed.  However, I know that there have been times in my life when I know I was not living in a way pleasing to Him so I felt that I did not have the right to expect him to answer those prayers in the way I wanted.

If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why?

• Michael Jordan so I could dunk a basketball after taking off from the free throw line.

Why should I go to Snow Camp?

• It is a lot of fun and a good opportunity for spiritual growth.

Can you briefly share your salvation testimony?

• I was saved while I was a sophomore at the University of Chief Illiniwek (Illinois).  I used to believe in evolution but through debating with some fellow students who were Christians, the Lord work in my heart and I was convinced that He did exist, that I was a sinner, that He loved me and sent His son to die for my sins.  I still remember Robert Wilhelm, a fellow engineering major and Christian, using the “Bridge” analogy to help lead me to the Lord.

Hot Seat – Susan Androsuk

This past Wednesday night we had the Hot Seat and Susan Androsuk and Mr. Carroll were our participants. Here are Susan’s answers to some of you questions, some which were asked on Wednesday and some we didn’t get to.

What is your favorite…

• Color | Pink
• Bible verse | Isaiah 40:31
• Christmas song | Sleigh Ride (the classical music)
• Kind of food | Italian
• Subject in school | Psychology
• Thing about church | Youth Group
• Drink | Vernors
• Car | Camero

Are there times you find doing your devotions difficult and why?

• Yes…because I get so wrapped up in my own life…that it seems as if time slips away..but I know doing them is a necessity to my walk with the Lord.

Who was influential in you first going to church?

• My family

Can you share one of you most embarrassing moments with us?

• Nope…jk jk..um…when I was in 3rd grade…I went out to eat with my crush and his family and my family…(his and my family are good friends)..while we were waiting for our food a watress walks by with a full tray of ice water…and it droped all on me!!! It was super cold and to top it off my crush was siting right next to me :[

Do you pray before you go to bed?

• Most of the time I do.

Have you aver felt God wasn't listening?

• Yes...when life gets hard its always easier to blame someone else or God for your problems.

If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why?

• I would be Stefanie Bieber..she is a famous flute player...and I would love to have that talent for a day.

Why should I go to Snow Camp?

• Because it has great preaching....a lot of fun new people to meet...and a huge snow hill to slide down :]

Can you briefly share your salvation testimony?

• I first made a profession of faith when i was in kindergarten…I didnt really understand what it ment and when I was in church. I thought it was the “cool” thing to do because everyone was doing it..but because I didn’t know exactly what came with being saved at such a young age. I was saved in the 4th grade. I am continuing in my spiritual walk…and there is always room for improvement.

Hot Seat (#8)

“What advice would you give to a high schooler to benifit their school experience?”

John 13
1) Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. 4) He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5) After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Luke 13
30) And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

My advice? What can you do to best benifit from your high school years? Take up the towel and serve others. You do that and it will not only be a benifit to the high school “experience”, but it will aslo be a benifit in the eternal “experience”.

Hot Seat (#7) These are a few of my favorite things…

I won’t sing the song for you. I’ll leave that for Mr. Wipf, since I know that The Sound of Music is one of his favorite things.

Some of the questions I get when we have The Hot Seat are “Do you like…” and “What is your favorite…”, so I am going to take a minute to answer several of those questions.

1) What is your favorite color? Red, without a doubt
2) What was you favorite subject in school and why? History, because I have always enjoyed learning about the past. There are so many events and people from the past that fascinate me.
3) How do you like your eggs? Over easy, very easy
4) Do you like bacon? Oh yeaaaaah!
5) What is your favorite type of cheese? Sharp Cheddar
6) What do you like watching on TV? Sports; It’s a good thing we don’t have cable b/c I could very easily be a Sports Center junkie

Hot Seat (#6) (God’s Will?-Part II)

A little while ago I began to answer a Hot Seat Question about God’s will. Here is a link to the first post on the subject.

After you address the known will of God and you are following it, then what do you do?

Maybe you should take you Bible and let it fall on it’s binding and open to whatever page it will and then blindly take you finger and point to verse, thus determining God’s will for your life. Maybe you should find God’s will by looking at the circumstances and then deciding if it looks like to should do it. Or how about deciding if it’s God’s will, only if there is an “open door” to go a certain direction. If not that, then maybe you should wait until you have complete peace about something before you come to the conclusion that it is God’s will for your life. Or maybe you should lay out a fleece like Gideon did.

Many of these thoughts I have just mentioned are commonly used ways that people attempt to use to “discover” God’s will for their life. None of these ways should ever be the exclusive way that you come to understand the will of God for your life. In the next post we will talk about what we should do to determine God’s will.

Hot Seat (#5)

Another question that was asked was about how we were saved. I asked Mrs. W. to answer this one and here is her salvation testimony.

I was born into a Christian family, and between the Bible training at home and church, I was well aware of my sinfulness even as a child. My desire was to go to heaven and I knew the only way to do that was to accept Christ as my Savior. One night during family devotions, it was my turn to pray, and as a three-year-old, I prayed and asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me. I was SO excited. I told as many people as I could. I still remember the joy it gave me. However, when I was around 7 years old, I told a traveling evangelist my testimony. But as soon as I mentioned my age, he told me that I was too young to be saved. He caused me to doubt my salvation. I made reassurance of my salvation at age 7, but I truly believe I was saved at 3. Salvation has nothing to do with age (young or old); it is the heart desire and the unwavering faith in the only perfect, sinless One who died to take the penalty for my sin on the cross of Calvary. Praise God I know I am saved!

Hot Seat (#4) (God’s Will?-Part I)

It’s time for another question from the Hot Seat.

“How do we know what’s God’s will for us?”

That is a good question that many times gets a bad answer. God’s will is not a mystery that we must spend all our lives searching for. He hasn’t written a map for each of us and then hidden it on us thinking that if we want it enough we will find the map and use it to know God’s will.

The first question to ask yourself is, “Am I obeying God’s known will for my life?” Maybe then you ask, “What is God’s known will?” Good question. It is what the Bible clearly teaches that we are to be doing as believers. We are to be controlled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:17-18), to be becoming more like Christ (Romans 12:1-2), to be under submission of our God-given authorities (I Peter 2:13-18. This is not an exhaustive list. There are more commands that we are to obey, but that list is a good start. To know God’s will for your life, the direction that you are to take, it starts with today obeying what we know we are to do as believers.

I will say more about this in the coming days.

Hot Seat (#3)

The question was asked, “What are you going to name your baby?” The answer is – wouldn’t you like to know. As soon as she comes I’ll break the news, but not until then. Sorry.

You think you know what it is going to be? Well, take a guess. Leave it in the comments and we’ll see if anyone gets it right. If you need some help coming up with a name, you can use this site and look at the most popular names in the US for 2004 and even search for more. Happy guessing!

Hot Seat (#2) (Pink!?)

On the lighter side of the Hot Seat:

The question was asked, “Do you like Pink?”
The answer in short is yes, but there’s more…

This is a quote from a man named Josh Larson and it sums up my “theology of pink”. 

“Actually, I am convinced that pink is blessed by Scripture. Genesis 49:12 says, “His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.” Jacob is blessing Judah (a man) here, and he intentionally uses two colors which, when mixed, produce pink. I stand firmly on this verse and state that not only is pink permissible for men to wear, it is a sign of a life devoted to and blessed by the God of Jacob.”

Now, before you go nuts, Josh and I are both kidding. I do proudly wear pink, but I think it just might be a stretch to say that for those that do wear pink it is a sign of blessing from God.

However, it does take a real man to wear the blessed color!

Hot Seat (#1)

Last night during B.L.A.S.T. we had the Hot Seat. Mrs. W. and I fielded your questions that had to do with either of our lives, your life, God or church. There were many good questions and over the next little while I am going to answer some of them here.

The first question I will address (which was somewhat answered last night) is about interracial dating and marraige, namely is it wrong? What does the Bible say about it?

Well, in the Old Testament the Isrealites were commanded not to marry anyone from the peoples [Cannanittes, Hittites, Perizittes, Amorites, Schmittyittes=)', etc.] that lived around them. This was part of the O.T. law, which we no longer live under and I believe that the emphasis was on the spiritual differences and not the racial differences. They were not to marry these others, because when they did their spouse would most likely bring their “gods” that they worshipped into the relationship and soon those “gods” would come to be worshipped along with or in place of the one true God. Even today, we are commanded to not “be unequally yoked” and that is a clear reference to something spiritual and not something racial. There is no biblical prohabition of interracial dating/marraige relationships, however there is a clear biblical prohabition of any dating/marraige relationship with someone who is not also a believer!

As I said last night, there is no biblical teaching that keeps believers today from interracial relationships, however there can be cultural difficulties that come out of a relationship of the like. No one, especially a believer, should enter into a convenant relationship (such as marraige) without Godly counsel and significant consideration. That is the case whether you are marrying someone who is white, black, hispanic or pink (I like pink, but I would advise any of you to not marry a pink person!).

And the bottom line for teens is that if your parents don’t approve (for whatever reason and whatever the race of your “true love” – those two words were typed with all the sappiness I could muster) then you are not to be in that relationship, no matter what!