Have you reached your Potential?

Yesterday was one of those great days to remember for Sarai, my little one. She learned in few hours how to ride a bike with no safety wheels… she started vacillating, but determined to find out the mystery behind the pedals. She felt down once, twice… and several times, but after few minutes, she found herself riding the bike… she smiled and looked satisfied, everything looked good except for one little detail… now the bike is in motion… but how to stop now? And as she approached the end of the basketball court, she tried to get of the bike… and she had another fall… different from the previous ones… now the next challenge is to learn how to operate the break and keep the bike up… looks like will be a longer process… Is a resemblance of our life, we are so focused learning something new, trying new experiences, taking new risks, but when we are on “motion” after some learning falls, we discover that we don’t know how or where to stop… as part of the process of reaching our potential, ...

This was one of my firs post, and I think I'm goin to repeat it often... so here is it again! Cheap Good and Fast are three choices that we cannot have all together. There are simple Math Rules: If you want it Good and Fast, is not going to be Cheap If you want it Cheap and Good, is not going to be Fast If you want it Fast and Cheap, is not going to be Good Just pure logic...

While I was with my son at Merida, we discuss the creativity topic, how to transform something common into something extraordinary. Creativity is not a gift; it is a discipline, and need to be exercised regularly. My pastor, Troy Gramling teach me that once I got a first great idea, we have to not surrender to it, we have to try something better, something different. During the preparation of MyNakedPastor.com series, we expend several hours on the topic of the name of the series. It was almost noon when we started the discussion, and we skip lunch until we concluded with a better idea than the original one. Some times, because the urgent, we leave or place in hold the important. I found the “Toro” series (Bull) from Picasso… he didn’t give up on the first draw, and by the way, those pencil drafts, worth a fortune. Next time you get a great idea, don’t stop there… go for the really best one! Be Creative!

John Maxwell said on his book "Today Matters" that we have misconception of life, that some times we believe that life has to be easy, but the true is that life is difficult. If we are able to understand the deep of this thinking, then we will be able to be successful in life and we will be better prepared to face the challenges of every day without quit or drop the towel. One of my favorite poems is from a Hispanic writer, Amado Nervo, and is titled "At peace" and is about a real life, and I tried to translate it, so I hope you can get the essence of it: At Peace And now, near to my Sunset, I bless you, Life, because you never gave me, neither unfilled hope, neither unfair work, neither undeserved pain. Because I see at the end of my rough way that I was my own destiny's architect: If I got the sweet or the sour of situations, was because I put bitter or sweet honey in them. When I planted rose seeds, I always harvested roses. Certainly, after my Fall, Winter i...

Today I was trying to write during my early talk with God, and all I found was a pencil. I sharpen it and I wrote some of my trip memories, while I was writing, I remembered a story I heard some day about a pencil, and to reach our potential we have to look like a pencil… If I remember well it was five similitude’s between ourselves and a pencil: First: We have great potential to do great things, but there is a greater hand that will guide your path, is God’s hand in our lives Second: We have to stop some time our hard work to get resharpened, if we continue with no stop, even when we could be full inside we won’t be able to draw any more. Third: The pencil has an eraser… to erase our mistakes and correct the way Fourth: What is really important is not the wood, the decoration or the shape of the pencil, what is valuable, is the charcoal inside's quality, that’s why you have to take care of your inner self Fifth: Always leave a mark, a legacy… and remember that all your actions alw...

This morning was a great adventure. I was awake early to my regular chat to God and then I walked to the beach to meet the sunrise. After some exercise at the white sands of Cancun, I jumped in to the car and drove 50 miles south to Playa del Carmen to Meet Sigfrido Paz Paredes Jr., another greatest friend of mine, who is living at Chetumal city, in the south Mexican border, but he was visiting Playa del Carmen, so by 8:30 we where having breakfast together. Sigfrido, is a brilliant and sensitive man, always optimistic, creative and as his father, a great visionary. We ran several adventures that deserve, not a chapter, a whole book to talk about it. Now we are dreaming to start several projects and conferences to help people to reach their God’s potential for the Caribbean area. The happy and good times are back!

Yesterday was another great day in this amazing trip to Mexico. Last night, I had the opportunity to have dinner with one of my greatest friend, Sigfrido Paz Paredes Sr. the man behind the Cancun development, and a great contributor to the Tourism Industry in Mexico for many years. He is the only person I know who was honored by the Mexican goverment naming a navigation canal with his name for the briliant project he visualized. He has been what I can call a true and loyal friend, no matter the winds, or life storms, he has been there always. When I first meet him I was 14 years old... as time goes by!. We had dinner at Ocean Palace Hotel in Cancun and we shared many memories, some jokes, some serious stuff but it was some of those moments, that no matter how long we where unable to see each other, was only a little pause on the time for a loyal and great friendship. Something to consider when you are trying to reach your potential, is: Look around yourself, who are you doing life wit...

All my life I was lazy about exercise... I thought that I don’t needed but after few years I discover that even when I was skinny, really skinny, (if you don't believe me that's me at 22) and never had discipline practicing any exercise. When you are young, the wonderful body created by God, is able to support overloads, excesses, and laziness, but on your later years you will get the invoice of all of the “advances” and you have to pay it all soon or late (more soon than late). I’m being paying mine with interest. On my visit to my son we talked about one of the first books Troy Gramling recommended me: “Today Matters” by John Maxwell, and one of the subjects of our conversation was “The soonest you make a decision in your life, the longest impact it will have in yours”. I challenged him to start exercising at the Gym early on the morning, and then continue his every day life, and today we went together for the first time to the Gym. If he continues, he is getting a legacy th...

There are few days in your life that will remain in your mind forever… they are called “Special moments”. Today was one of those. I met my son Jose Alejandro at noon, after a great walk at downtown Merida. In all the years I came to visit Merida, I never had the opportunity to really walk the Zocalo (Name for the main plaza) and the surrounding streets. I visited several stores and I found a beautiful guayabera (A traditional Yucatan shirt) and I decided to buy one for my son and one for me, to have dinner together, so we walked back to the store, chose two elegant guayaberas, he looks so cute! After that, we went to see the house he lives in, from which he’ll be moving soon to a bigger house, he is now planning to do some business, and dreaming about the future. After that, we went to Eladio’s, a traditional “Cantina” where you just order a drink and you get the “Botana” (Snacks) with the traditional Yucatecan cuisine. It’s funny how out of Mexico, most people believe that all we have...

22 years ago it was one my happiest days in my life, at 10:34 a.m. I was at the operating room recording on video one of the most incredible and mysterious God’s miracles, the miracle of life. I was listening to the first live exclamations of my first son, Jose Alejandro. He was so innocent, so small, so fragile and all he wanted it was to be loved, and guess what, babies grow... Look at him now. We have been talking all day long, and we are going to have diner to celebrate his birthday. Happy birtday my beloved son!

Today I went to a meeting about how to deal with conflicts, and it was a good reminder of what we have to do... there is no recipes, because every situation is unique, but there are some steps that can be helpful: First: We have to understand there is different kind of conflicts. Two of them are: Misunderstanding on the point of view Poor communication To deal with the misunderstandings, the solution could be to get the right information from a trustable source To deal with poor communication, we have to work first on what is the idea to transmit, what is the vision we want to spread, then talk about in different levels, all related to the same idea. The human mind needs to listen to the same idea at least ten times to have a complete understanding on some matter, so, don’t think everyone is a genius and will understand you with just few words your vision. God give us TWO eyes, TWO ears and ONE mouth. We have to learn to observe more, listen more and talk less, particularly if we are d...

Wow... October is a month full of birthdays, Miguel, Fuller, Heredes, my son Jose Alejandro, and today it was Yves Leroy Moriseau Birthday. Yves is one of my best friends and has been my doctor for... 23 years, has been with me on the good times and also on the not so good. I also have been on good and bad times with him, and that is what it is about friendship. I never expected for him to be with me on the dark moments, but he was there. I called today on the morning and he was happy to see that even on the distance I remembered his b-day… and I also was happy that I catch him before he went to the busy day of a doctor. He shared with me that he is now a proud grand dad and it was his best b-day present from his daughter. Friendship is about honesty, fidelity, and love. That’s why Jesus after being with the disciples for a while, he told them: “I now call you friends” Jesus is the friend that always will be there for you.

Today I removed all the equipment we used for my MyNakePastor.com at Troy Gramling's house, remove wires we crossed from the control tower to the living room, dinning room etc. While I was unplugging the equipment and packing, I was thinking on the legacy I got from the previous five weeks. For true, the last five weeks made a key moment on my life. On the next few days I'll be sharing what I learned from being working so close to Troy Gramling. I can tell you this... insecurity is may be some of the most dangerous areas in my life. If you wheren't able to see the services, go to http://www.flamingoroadchurch.com and look for teachings. There are archived... and invest your best 40 minutes per teaching to see what can you find for you. Reaching our potential is a slow process...

I was having problems with my Internet connection at home, and if you have two teenagers and two little ones who love to practice spelling at www.starfall.com that's a huge situation. I tried to fix it, then I seek for support from Bellsouth (I'm sorry, the new ATT), they send me a new router, I replaced, then the problem was not solved, the new router was with problems and so for... finally they gave me an appointment for today, from 8 to 12... 8, 9, 10... 11... 12... No technician... After several phone calls, and more tests, the guy showed up at 6 p.m. We were about to have dinner… well Internet is a priority for the sake of this house so, I gave up my dinner time to be with the technician. He replaced again the router, and it looks like now everything is working again. My teens are surfing MySpace, and the little ones back to their spelling. Some days you have to make a choice… to do what you have to do, or just experience procrastination

I just found that a very good friend of mine is celebrating his birthday today! (It looks like I'm not aware of my friend’s b-days), Miguel, a great friend, is getting older too. Miguel is a very creative, smart Apple guy, ingenious and humble, but also he is able to celebrate two birthdays a year… yes he is double blessed. Not a long time ago, he got sick and he was on the hospital for a long time, he had several surgeries, but over all, he had a loving family and friend who where praying for him all the way of his healing process… God grant him more time with us, what a great blessing. Also he is a great musician and sensitive man. I’m glad you are celebrating one more year! Migue, Happy Birthday to you!. You can leave him a comment on his Blog: http://thewayiseetheworld.wordpress.com/

My buddy Heredes Riveiro is celebrating his birthday! so go to http://www.heredes.com/ and leave him a comment. He is a nice, creative and funny guy that deserves a nice b-day party... anyway he'll be celebrating from stage tonight at http://www.frclive.tv/ (5:15 and 7 p.m.)

Today I went to the Gym and worked out for few minutes with a couple of friends and then we went for a cup of coffee to have a little chat. While we where chatting, I felt that I haven’t completed my workout, so after the coffee (And a nice cup of fruit), I walked back to the Gym, finished my routine and exercised for another 40 minutes. Then I remembered that my daughters had chapel at school, so I drove to the School and I shared some time at chapel with my two little ones, Sol and Sarai. While I was at chapel Mrs. Gory, taught about insecurity and made an example of what means to be insecure: Is like being playing on game and feel that you are not as good as the others. Some times I’m feel like that… when I’m at the gym and I see others doing more exercise than me, having more weight on the machines, makes me feel insecure, but also I felt my muscles. I have a little of pain all over my body, it means that there are different muscles that are working and growing and developing is a ...

Two weeks ago, Sol’s teacher told me that my daughter will be dismissed from Cheer Leading, because she was being disruptive, not participative, and was distracting others from doing their routines. My first thought was, “Ok, she don’t liked, I’ll take her out” but then I remembered something I just read on the book of Proverbs Chapter 10: (MSG) “17 The road to life is a disciplined life; ignore correction and you're lost for good.” Is not about to like or not to like… is about discipline. If I just leave her to act like that, she will learn that when she doesn’t like something, then she is free to do whatever she wants, so I talked to the teachers involved, I talked to Sol and explained to her what the right thing to do is. For the last two weeks she has been participative, disciplined and I think she is starting to like cheer leading… I observed today’s rehearsal and at this point, and as a Dad I can tell you this… I love my daughters… and I’m so proud of the effort she is now do...

When I was young, I loved to play Domino with my sisters, and I loved to do "Couples", trying to defeat the other couple and helping my partner to win the game. But my sisters where busy most of the time, and then I liked to put all the pieces standing close to each other, making some shapes... then pushing one single piece and observing how all other pieces felt down... Years later I found that is called "The Domino Effect". One single piece is capable to affect all others. We all have "key" moments in our life, and after those, our destiny is changed… just like some one pushing our first piece, and all others start to fall, following the path… My pastor is now preparing a new series called Domino, and it is not about how to play... instead is about decisions, how one can impact our life causing "The Domino Effect". I have great expectations on what I and my family will learn from that… and the impact that will have on my future.

While us where webcasting live MyNakedPastor.com, one of the greatest challenges was to keep signal live the most of the time, and to transmit from most of the places. At the beach, I found we had low signal, and I needed an antenna, but also I needed to have mobility with the Camera, Laptop, Tripod, transmitter and wires… so I got a Miami Heat hat and I fixed a metal base, to have a false ground plane to take care of the SWR of the antenna. So, I put everything on a back pack, hat and… I got the required signal level to transmit from the beach. My antenna boosted the signal almost 9 db’s, enough to have a steady signal. It looked funny, but it worked fine.

Last Sunday I got a great time with my beloved one at "Garcia's" restaurant in Miami, by the river. We got a delicious "Ceviche", a Lobster Bisque, a Shrimp Cocktail, and a fresh fish fillet. While we where eating, we got an opportunity to had a little chat on my expectations and what I have. She asked me what I think of one relative and I mentioned few qualities and then she asked me if I was able to see those qualifications on her, and at some point she asked me if some one charming, elegant or social would fulfill my expectations, and with no doubt my answer was, that she, my dearly loved was the one who fulfill all my expectations. The root of many conflicts and separation on a couple starts with unfulfilled expectations. Some one is waiting for something that they will never get, then become frustrated, upset and starts looking for some “ideal” person… and after that… the affair is on the door. When I got married, I accepted Dora as she is, with her virtues...

Do you think I look to red? Yesterday, my outfit was the center of controversy. Of course I was pro-red, inspi-red, with my blue tennis shoes... later a good friend explained me that the strips on the pants are with the purpose to assist you on choosing your pairing color, so I was supposed to wear a white or black shirt, with black or white tennis shoes... Looking at my past, I was so worried about my wardrobe, that I always got "Brand" clothes, eyeglasses, socks, shoes and accessories... my dressing room was sorted by color and combination. And I dressed like that to "fit" and feel security on my way to dress... there is a popular phrase in Mexico, "People will treat you the way you look". I felt security on my clothes. Now I don't really care (too much) about my combinations... nevertheless I will avoid to provocate confusion between me and a Coke Sign! :) This weekend Troy is going to talk about insecurity. I'm sure that will be really interes...

I’m Insecure When I was invited to write this a devotion on insecurity, my first reaction was exactly that—I became insecure! You see, my first language is not English, so I am not very secure at writing in English. When I was living in Mexico, one of my best skills involved communicating. I was a great speaker. I spoke at approximately 20 conferences a year, participated on several TV shows, and even wrote a newspaper column. My sense of security was based on my talents and my strengths. However, when God brought me to Flamingo Road Church, I faced a big challenge when it came o expressing myself verbally. I could barely transmit a complete thought from my brain to my mouth and then into the ears of others. I became extremely frustrated. During this time, I discovered my so-called gift was no longer of use. I was then led to the follow verse: 2nd, Corinthians 8-10 (NIV):Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you...