Ready

For those of you who may not know, I live in the city of Doral and anyone who knows Doral knows that it is a city surrounded by golf courses. So, every day, when I go out to walk my dog, Dino, I usually come back with two or three golf balls. One day my wife asked me, why is it that when I walk the dog I never find any golf balls? I asked her, do you look for them? She said, no. I answered that’s why you never find them. The next time she walked the dog she came back and said, honey, I found four golf balls. I asked her, how did you find them? She replied: I looked for them.

Every leader is unique, but every leader has the same goal. Leaders all share a desire to progress and to reach their distinctive goals. But let’s face it no matter how good a leader you are, a successful leader understands that having good luck is part of the equation. That sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. In leadership, good luck is what happens when readiness meets opportunities. But if good luck knocks at your door and you’re not ready, it’s too late to get ready. Since we don’t know when opportunity will knock at our door, we must be ready with the necessary tools and skills to meet opportunity.

Our goal at CDA Miami is to lead people in a growing relationship with Jesus. My goal is to make sure that each one of our leaders, in spite of their unique duties and responsibilities, understands that a big part of our success is being prepared to meet the opportunities that may come our way. That is why as CDA Leaders we ask you to be ready by:

Committing to regular and timely attendance

Regular and timely attendance is extremely important. It doesn’t matter how gifted or talented you are, if you’re not present and on time, the opportunity will pass you by. Regular and timely attendance is like finding golf balls, you have to look for them. More than likely you won’t find golf balls in church but you will encounter people who you could help lead in a growing relationship with Jesus. The problem is you never know when an opportunity might present itself. It’s like the parable Jesus told of the two groups of ten virgins, ten were ready but the other ten were not. Ten of them were blessed, while the other ten were not ready and at the last minute they sought to prepare themselves but it was too late.

Committing to come ready

Regular attendance and timeliness are just one step towards readiness. We must also come prepared. Our “Worth It” principles are the core values that allow us to meet any opportunity that might present itself. The more familiar we are with them, the better prepared we’ll be to take advantage of the opportunities.

Committed to looking for opportunities

The fact that you show up on time does not mean that opportunities will fall on your lap. Sometimes you have to look for them. We should never be so busy that we’re walking right by opportunities without noticing them. My wife walked the same route I walked but never found a single golf ball. But once she began to look for them, she found them. You may not see any opportunities, but believe me, you walk by them every day. Jesus said, seek and you will find.

Committed to creating opportunities

Usually, on Sundays, I’m responsible for sharing the Word. But the Sundays that I can just sit down and receive, I’m searching the room looking for opportunities I otherwise could have not taken advantage of because I was preaching. If I don’t find any opportunity then I look around the room to create one. In the parable of the sower, a farmer went out to sow seeds. But this farmer was peculiar in that he sowed seeds where ever he went; some on the road, others in rocky places, some in shallow ground, some among thorns, and some on good soil. The sower understood that the good soil would produce the good fruit, but nonetheless, he sought out opportunities wherever he went. The truth is you never know what God can do.

Committed to taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves

My prayer is that our CDA leaders would always be committed to regular and timely attendance, to being ready, to looking for opportunities, or looking to create opportunities. But more importantly, I pray that they’d be committed to never letting an opportunity pass them by.

Pastor Bobby Cruz Jr