Rand Rambles

For many years, while living in Puerto Rico, I worked as a youth leader. I basically started leading a cell group and from that I went to be one of the leaders of my Church’s Youth Group. After several years as a leader, I was became the main leader of the group when the Youth Pastor suddenly left the Church. It was an interesting situation through which I learned a lot, but it was hard. I really enjoyed being in a place where I could bless others and help them in their daily lives, encouraging them and leading them. It was a great time but there was a lot of chaos. During these years, I experienced several stressful situations that a lot of people don’t experience often, or at least so quick one after the other. As I mentioned, the Youth Pastor left the Church, not long after that, the Church went through a nasty division, followed by the death of our Pastor, whom I loved a lot, and after the period of grieving we experienced some confusion, every preacher that visited the Church during this time confirmed that the Pastor’s wife was to be the one to continue leading the church but for some reasons many of the leaders did not want to comply and ended leaving the Church. Chaos. Craziness. Turmoil. The Church has experienced growth and blessing after all this but I can’t help but wonder, what if some of these things were dealt with in a different way? Some of these stressful situations were impossible to avoid but others weren’t and if there’s others that have gone through hard situations like these, wouldn’t it be wise to learn from them?

In “Steering Through Chaos”, Pastor Scott Wilson explains in a deep but simple way how to handle situations that are bound to happen when we are in leadership. It is sad that so many pastors and leaders give up the place where God has placed them because of burnout and lack of direction. It happened to me, after several years of chaos, one of the reasons I left Puerto Rico was because I was tired, plain and simple. I needed to be refreshed, refocus and be fed. I truly believe that it is possible to be a minister and live refreshed, successful lives, quitting shouldn’t be our option.

Among other things, Pastor Scott explains the importance of focusing on our vision and how we, as leaders, shouldn’t avoid transitions but be the ones creating them at the same time that we recognize opportunities and avoid obstacles. These and other awesome points are practically described and further examined through profiles from actual scenarios in thriving churches.

If you are a leader or involved in any kind of ministry, I highly recommend you get this book. Even if you were a leader and experienced the chaos and barely made it alive, get this book and be refreshed with a new outlook and the possibility of going at it again, not only surviving but celebrating every step of the way.

Click here to get the book on Amazon!

I haven’t blogged in a while because life’s being a bit crazy. But wanted to do a quick blog just as a reminder that when life is sucking, we can make a decision to be happy. Instead of focusing on the bad things happening to us or on what we are lacking we can just try to focus on what we DO have and the blessings we get to experience, as simple as they may be. The fact that you are reading this right now means that you have way more than many others.

So, be happy, smile and use your life to make others happy, it will come back to you when you least expect it.

In other news, I had an awesome night tonight.

My brother Rafy introduced me to the Annoying Orange and I can’t get enough of it, it’s so hilarious!

Click here if you can’t see the video!

Sometimes I would like to leave everything behind. Move to a third world country and just spend my life serving others. Life is complicated, so many ups and downs and the need to perform can bring so much stress. My mind is tired, when I think I know what I want I realize that I don’t really know what I want. What if what I feel is just a selfish desire of achieving greatness? What if it isn’t God’s will? What if, what if, what if?

Is it wrong that I want to be famous? Is it wrong that I want to have lots of money, even if the reason for this is not to use it on me but to pour it into other people’s lives? I am tired. I’m gonna keep fighting but I definitely need to know if the direction I’m heading is the right one. I guess I will know once I get there and if it wasn’t at least I was moving. The struggles in my life make it so difficult to see myself as a conqueror some times, but I have to keep reminding myself, it could be much worse.

Well, I felt the need to vent a little, I definitely need to invest some time in others, I am coming to the realization that this fight inside of me can be because everything I’m doing at the moment has to do with me, I’m going to school, I am working, I am thinking about my future, I’m spending too much time on my own struggles but basically none of my time is being invested in the lives of others, I need to fix that.

What would you recommend to live a fuller life? A life with more meaning and satisfaction

I know, I know, some of them are more into red than fuchsia, but still, it’s a little crazy for me that through 6 different seasons that hair color has prevailed. I mean, it’s not a totally normal hair color like, black, brown or blonde. But all that red makes me wonder… Why?

• Does it have something to do with the producers decisions?
• Is there a mastermind behind all this hair dye?
• Is this a result of some frivolous plan to make everyone in the universe want to have their hair this color?
• Is this part of the marketing put in place for Coca-Cola? Red cups, red hair?

I don’t know I may be getting carried away but who knows, maybe one day one of them will break the secret code and open up to the public and spill the beans. Until that moment we will have to live knowing that as long as Idol lives there is a high chance of seeing more ladies with this unusually strong hair color. Anyway, the way I see it, Idol may not have too many years left, X-Factor will take over, in my opinion. So we may know sooner rather than later.

WHY?