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!

If God is not just and fails to deal with sin accordingly, he is a liar when he says he is love.

This quote was by my friend Victoria while we were having a great conversation regarding this generation’s view on some crucial points in Christianity, especially God, sin and Love. I personally love it.

What do you think?

I like hugs. There’s something about them that makes me happy. Maybe because I’m Puerto Rican and we love physical contact or maybe just the fact that hugs are awesome. It’s easy to go days without hugs, depending on the people you surround yourself or maybe because we get so used to living our lives like that. There are studies that say that physical touch can have mental and physical benefits and I can understand why.

Today, while spending my vacation in new Zealand, I saw an American lady that had I met last week, her name is Naomi. Something like this happened:

Naomi: Rand, how are you doing?

Me: I’m doing well, and you.

Naomi: Good, can I give you a hug?

Me: Of course. (We hugged and I felt a slight snap in her back, hopefully nothing serious, but I digress…)

Naomi: I’ve been praying for you and Ben, especially for you, so God will guide you and show you what direction to take in the next few weeks. Do you have an idea of what is the next step.

Me: Thank you a lot, I really need it. I am getting glimpses of some of the decisions I’ll be making but nothing fully clear yet.

Naomi: Well, know that I am praying and God will lead you in the right way. Please cover me and my husband in prayer.

Me: Of course. (I’ve been praying for them)

You may not see it as much but the fact that she hugged me and told me that she was praying for me was enough to give me some comfort that I really needed at the moment.

Sometimes we hold back and don’t tell others what we think or feel for fear of being inappropriate. Sometimes we feel God prompting a word or a prayer inside of us to share with someone but we keep it to ourselves for fear of being labeled as spiritual loonies and we prevent those we are called to blessed from receiving their blessing.

Hug someone today.

You who sit down in the High God’s presence,
spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,
Say this: “God, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!”

That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
under them you’re perfectly safe;
his arms fend off all harm.

Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
not disaster that erupts at high noon.

Even though others succumb all around,
drop like flies right and left,
no harm will even graze you.

You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God’s your refuge,
the High God your very own home,

Evil can’t get close to you,
harm can‘t get through the door.
He ordered his angels
to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they’ll catch you;
their job is to keep you from falling.

You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

“If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God,
“I’ll get you out of any trouble.
I’ll give you the best of care
if you’ll only get to know and trust me.

Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times;
I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I’ll give you a long life,
give you a long drink of salvation!”

Psalm 91 The Message

‘Things happen for a purpose’ has become a widely used cliché but when you come to think about it, it’s usually an accurate one.

On my first day in New Zealand, Ben’s parents picked us up from the airport and on the way back we got totally lost. They live in Paihia, a small coast town, around four hours away from Auckland. After around an hour driving around lost and mentioning the benefits of having a GPS we got on track. Once we were on track we decided to stop at a gas station to get something to eat since we were going to be on the road for three more hours. To the surprise of everyone, when we were ordering food, Ben’s brother, Scott, appeared. He had come from Australia to visit the family for Christmas and right then, right there, with no planning in mind, there we were, meeting him, his wife and his beautiful girls. If it weren’t for getting lost we wouldn’t have been able to see them there.

An unlikely situation was, I believe, used by God to surprise us with a blessing.

I wonder how many times things like these happen in our lives. Often we complain about the process or because we appear to be lost when it may only be a delay in order to meet a greater purpose.

Think about it… What ’sucky’ situation are you going through that may be just a delay in order to meet a greater plan?