Have you reached your Potential?

Today's suggested reading: Proverbs 14 I Am Not Always Right Sometimes. Brian Vasil, Media Pastor “Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord, but wise men and women listen to each other's counsel.” Proverbs 13:10 (TM) I only fight when I have to. I don’t like discord, disunity, disagreements, or disco. Basically anything that involves fighting, yelling, or platform shoes. Never have. When my brother and I would fight as kids, I’d usually win just because I was bigger than him. Now he is 6 foot 4 and that doesn’t work so I have to out-think him. I have to convince him that I know it all. I have all the answers…I have it all figured out. Of course, I really don’t, but you’d never know it by the way that I fight, though. Have you ever been in an argument or fight and realize halfway through that you are TOTALLY wrong? You know…that thing called pride kicks in and we are fighting for its own sake. Why do we do this to ourselves? Has arrogance or pride ever helped to solve a conflict? I...

To understand the value of a year, just ask a student who failed one, to understand a month, ask to a mother who give birth early, to understand the value of a week, ask to the editor of “Weekly News” paper. To understand the value of a day, ask to the lovers are waiting to see each other. To understand the value of an hour, ask to a nurse who is taking care of medication at a hospital. To understand the value of a minute, ask a friend who lost the flight because he was one minute late. To understand the value of a second, ask a person who avoided a car accident, just for a second. To understand the value of a fraction of a second, ask to a runner pursuing to break a record… I can see how important is to understand the value of the time in our lives. Today I was awaken 20 minutes late… Come on… just 20 minutes, I just jump out of bed, and ran to check the live feed… already started. And I missed the recording of the Devotion first part, and I just started the day without my personal qu...

Some weekends I expended with my grandma Martha, she told me few of the Aesop's Fables, and I particularly remember a short one; The Ants and the Grasshopper. The ants were spending a fine winter's day drying grain collected in the summertime. A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food. The Ants inquired of him, "Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?' He replied, "I had not leisure enough. I passed the days in singing." They then said in derision: "If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter." I always thought: “Those are mean ants”, but the true is that we have to be awake in order to reach our God’s potential. The entire series of Antology where based on a Bible Verse: Proverbs 6: 9-11 ESV 9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to ...

“Don Quijote de la Mancha” is one of the greatest pieces of the Spanish Literature, it was written in the late XVI century by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra, and it is considered as a corner stone of the novel writing. The first time I read this book I was 12 years old and I was captive by the romantic history of a Man who believed he was a “knight errant” with his armor bearer, Sancho Panza. All the history is about his dreams, his adventures and his errands. The first part of the book is funny and entertaining but the second part is more reflexive. Although the history is about “Don Quijote”, one of the reflexive characters is Sancho Panza, a man who always believed unconditionally the vision of his master, and no mater how crazy the venture looked; He was always there to support the Quijote's journeys. God gave to our Leader a vision to reach people all over the world to partner with them to reach their God's potential and to be “One church where you are" Today, at our st...

The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)[2] from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. Seeking information about the Chinese I found that they where the inventors of: Abacus Chinese Calculator Paper money Battens in sails Belt drive Blast furnace The cannon Cast iron Chain drive Chinese cuisine: Tofu, Ramen, Sushi Chinese clothing: Qipao, Hanfu Chopsticks Bituminous coke for the iron and steel industry Compass Crank, hand-operated Crossbow and repeating crossbow Escapement mechanism for clocks Exploding cannonball Fire Arrow Gunpowder Firearm Horse collar Hull compartments/bulkheads Kite Land mines Lottery Naval mines Noodles Paper Pendulum (Zhang Heng) Pound lock Printing (woodblock printing and movable type) Rockets: Fire Arrow, Multista...

Today I review my “to do” list at home and there was some pending tasks to be done. Paulina’s bed was broken and I needed to replace the base wood to fix it, also one of the kitchen drawers required some work, My daughters room needed a ceiling light, one of the baths needed some towel hangers… so “Labor Day” was a good day to take my to do list, and tackle it. I took some measures, I needed a large piece of 39 x 78 inches, and a small piece of 12 ½ by 4 ¾. I choose a panel and I took it to the cutting area, I gave the measures to the man who was doing the cuts and once I got my pieces, I’m used to check the measures and for my surprise, the small one it was 12 ¾ by 4 ¾ instead of 12 ½ I went back to the cutter, and he explained that it was close of the measure I requested, and he suggested me to use it just like that, I just laugh, and I just told him, sorry, but I’ll need this piece 12 ½ , no 12 ¾ . Then he told me “We are not allowed to do cuts smaller than 12 inches… I laugh again ...

One year ago, I met Deanna and Gonzalo, a young couple who was seeking wedding information, they where planning to get married. I gave them all the information, requirements and also we started a couple’s seminar that I usually give to the married couples. Marriage is the most important project on a humans life, is the fusion of two different elements onto a new one. Imagine this: You know in your heart that you want to be an architect, you love to design, you know that you have the potential to be not a good one, but a great one. You decided to go to the University fill out the application, sign your enrollment, and in that moment, get your diploma, you start looking for work, with your brand new title, they assign you to develop and build a nice complex… and you got all the enthusiasm, the feeling… but cero knowledge… after you got the project, you start studying and trying to accomplish the task at the same time… what will be the result? You’ll be lucky if you can get any progress ...

After the first two weeks of school, I decided to give a break to Sol and Sarai, and I wanted to expend some quality time with them, so we went to Butterfly World at Coconut Creek, Fl. after school. During our 40 minutes journey, we where playing and joking starting with the traditional “Are we there yet” the minute we left the school… When we arrived, I was surprised when we walked in to a big cage and there were butterflies all over the place… Thanks God I brought my camera and I got some great shots. We explored the place, observed the worms, and some different stages on a Butterfly’s live. We learned some about the Lepidoptera (Scientific name for butterfly) and some other insects like the spiders, cockroaches, and other species on some museum. After that, we where to the mall and we got some food, jokes and fun at the Sawgrass Mills Mall and in our way home, we stop at the park to close a perfect day with my two little ones. I was amazed by the perfection in all the creation by G...

When I started this blog, I made a commitment with myself to write every day, to be constant and make my best effort every day, to improve my writing, little by little but every day, and my goal is to become a better English writer as time goes by… this sound nice… like new year promises… but the true is that we need discipline to produce what we propose ourselves, and any laziness moment can become a great obstacle to reach your personal goals. Last Thursday, I start writing my daily post, but I was tired, it was a long day, and I was not 100% satisfied with the content, so I said to myself… Ok, tomorrow morning, I’ll be fresh and I’ll finish this and I’ll write tomorrow’s together… but then it happened that on Friday, I got a lot of things to do also, so I just start to write Friday’s post (Without conclude my Thursday’s one), then my Friend Freddy jumped in, some prints to do, my daughters had to go to the movies I had to pick them later… and the day slip from my fingers just like w...

Last week I went to Miami looking for a Wide Angle Lens for MyNakedPastor.com camera to provide a better view of what’s going on at Troy’s for 5 weeks. Here are to shots. One, a Wide Angle shot and two, another without. You see it is a better view. On my search of the lens, I visited several stores and also some parking lots. On the first parking lot there was an upset cashier, I pay and give them some encouraging words, not reacting on the way I was treated, may be she was struggling with some situation… I pray for her. On the second parking lot the cashier was with an I-phone, just grabbed my ticket and my money… no interaction at all. Never looked at me… and the third one, there was a nice cashier, she smiled me, greet me, and she wished me a great day… Three different persons, the same work, where is the difference? One word: Attitude. We all struggle with different situations every day, at work, at school, at home. No matter what is the circumstances around us, we can better use o...

Today was my first class day, and just coming in, I got my first test! To check my current knowledge, first, it was a Pre-test… so on this test it was reading, math and writing. First Results: Reading, 100%, (Is good to now at least that I can understand all I’m reading), Math, I got 96% (Ok I don’t remember how to divide fractions) and then… Writing. I check the sentences, read the questions several times… and I think I just got no more than 15%... the teacher just told me… “Well, you said you needed to learn writing…” I’ll get the right materials for you. She gives me the real tests (Now big books) for Reading and Math, and she told me that she will get one for writing next Monday. So I did the real tests, and it was fun, more than the questions, I was having memories about the time I learned the topic on question… it was something between nostalgic, melancholic and memories tests. I don got the results yet, but I’m pretty sure I got very good results on those tests… How different is...

We finished preparing the pre-launch website for MyNakedPastor.com and everyone is exited about this new series. It has a spot to submit your video to enter the contest to go to the “Naked Party” (I just made my own video and submitted). I’m learning about the RSS, XML & Twitter feeds on the link we added there, because, believe it or not, I didn’t know what it was a feed (Yes an outdated nerd… that stinks) and it is very cool, so, now I don’t need to visit all my friend’s blog, just get the feed and I can read all the updates all at once, great. Another interesting thing is the naked tools, that allow every one to include the code piece required to invite some one or just to share the fun of MyNakedPastor.com on the Naked Tools section. Well and what is this, all about this series? There is the explanation also: “The lead pastor, Troy Gramling, at Flamingo Road Church is getting naked! No...not that kind of naked, a new kind of naked. A nakedness that isn’t embarrassing; a nakedn...

Today I start reading the Book "Peppermint-filled piñatas" by Eric Michael Bryant, and as soon as i start reading, I was unable to stop reading it... it make me think about how can we move our ministry to become relevant, responsive, and reflective of the global community. He approaches the subject on a very funny way, starting with "The art of woo", I laugh from the beginning, I think I'll be blogging about the book on my next few posts... MyNakedPastor.com series will be relevant, and I believe that will change the mind of many as we approach the different subjects that will be covered by this series. Now, I’ll continue reading…

Today was the first day at school for all of my princess, also my wife start working as montessory teacher. Yesterday it was the run to be ready for today, Paulina was seeking for the best set to impact others… if this belt is with this shoes and backpack, if the hair… Sarai was checking on her uniform, every one wants to be prepared to impact others. When I was on Mexico, I was good on writing. I had a newspaper column, I wrote every day, but since I’m in US, I stop writing, and the worst thing, is that it is hard for me to express completely my thinking on a piece of paper, this is why I made a decision today, I enrolled on a English Writing class. I’m not pretending to become a great writer from night to day, but instead, I can learn a little every day. Blogging will become a very important piece of my learning, because I’ll be able to see my improvements from now, so… now I’m also, back to school. Discipline and planning are together and never is too late to start learning somethin...

Here is another picture with our characters of the “Mystery Picture”. A great president for US, Ronald Reagan. Today, while I was driving back from Tampa, I tried to discuss with Dora about the John Maxwell book “Today Matters” so we start listening the audio book, before the first chapter ended, Dora, was snoring… (Look at the picture taken with the Streaming Camera), and I was by myself with my thoughts as companion. Then I remember how on every staff meeting we have at the office, Troy always prepares a Q&A trivia contest to encourage the team work and to have a little fun. The questions are always related to TV, or Music or something and every time, when the contest starts I always thing… I’ll be prepared for next meeting… and I’m feel frustrated about not knowing about the culture and history where I live, then I just listen to Maxwell to said “When opportunity presents is too late to prepare for it” and that’s true, now for me is to late to gain years and years of culture, ...

The picture inquiring about the couple in a lake, is Ronald and Nancy Reagan... Later today I'll post another picture that I have at my office, now, on my way back to Cooper City :) Ohhh and the winner is: Troy Gramling :)

Finally arrived at Tampa at 11:40… what a great city. The trip was great. We have poor coverage only from mile 150 to Naples… but after that, we got good signal almost all the from Naples to Tampa. There was people following the beta test from Barranquilla, Colombia, Texas, Florida, Mexico… and two engineers, Doug and Freddy who where monitoring my signal all the way long. There was few glitches, but now I’m making notes about it to be ready for the real enchilada… I really believe that the next series will be a great opportunity to reach many people… so… be ready for www.mynakedpastor.com series… Good Night!

Today We will be broadcasting live from my car, as a beta testing for the next FRC Series: MyNakedPastor.com and I’m setting up the equipment ready: 1 MacBook 1 Verizon Wireless Card 1 USB Creative Camera 1 FireWire 3 CCD Panasonic Camera 1 External Antenna with 11 DB Gain 1 Power Inverter MSN Messanger Windows Media Encoder V.9 Running So, let’s see what we can blog from this trip. I’ll have some beta tester viewers that will be sharing later their thoughts about this exiting test. I cannot wait the new series to start. This will be something completely different; I have great expectations on this Troy’s great idea.

I was able to chat with Steve and here is an update: Total chaos south of Lima, 510 dead, 1500 injured, 80,000 homeless. We're filling up a minivan with supplies tomorrow, bound for Pisco, the hardest hit area, and we're also putting together an FRC Lima relief plan for the area hit by the earthquake. We may go to Pisco next week for 1-2 days to deliver relief supplies in person with FRC Lima people. I'm going to do another blog in the morning with an update. I'm also going to be teaching live this weekend at FRC Lima on "When Disaster Strikes." The highway to Pisco is heavily damaged, that is the problem in getting supplies in. They're using the Plaza de Armas as an open-air morgue right now. An FRC Lima member has family in Pisco. They are homeless now, so we're sending them tents, blankets, water, etc

Our Campus Pastor at Lima Wrote this update: Earthquake Update: 350 dead in Peru and 1,000 injured. Mass devastation south of Lima, in cities of Ica, Chincha, Pisco, 4-5 hours south of Lima. Houses, buildings, hospitals collapsed. We are trying to make contact with a pastor and with relatives of FRC Lima folks that live in the area. 60% of all houses collapsed in that area. Tsunami warnings all night in Lima, but may have passed. Many aftershocks all night as well. Damage in Lima less than in south, but still several deaths and much structural damage, particularly in center of Lima. Girls at orphanage are all OK physically, but very scared. Older girls were returning from school when earthquake hit, but made it back safely. They are all very scared today. We’ll probably go there later on today to be with them. We’re OK. Some structural damage to our building. Lots of things broken. Pictures fell off wall, broken glass, etc. Ran down 5 flights of stairs to escape from building with de...