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July 27, 2010
For those I will be meeting around Nashville, especially while attending the Immerse Conference hosted by the Gospel Music Association at Belmont University, here is the quick link into my music website, WayneCaparas.com, where you can listen to all 11 tracks on the Gospel Project CD… the complete songs along with lyrics (surely those are most important, yes?) so thanks for visiting… be ye transformed! Also, please visit Amber’s music website at AmberCaparas.com or AmberTunes.com. Cheers!
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July 21, 2010
God has put a familiar song on my heart… one that has many melodies, but a single message… so I’ll share it with you here. It’s Mary’s Song from the Gospel recorded by Luke, in chapter one. Most historians consider Luke to be the first true biographical research writer in world history, and I agree. So it was Mary herself who told Luke these were the very words she sang to Elizabeth to announce she was pregnant with Jesus… while Elizabeth was also pregnant with John the Baptist… imagine the moment…
Mary’s Song
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”
Dear God… make this my song too… ~ Wayne
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May 19, 2010
Again I find myself writing at JesusDNA after a prolonged silence. In a season where God has me studying 3 hours per day one would expect I’d have a lot to say, and I do, but I believe the writing is being divinely delayed. I’m grateful you find God using me from time to time, and I assure you that He’s preparing me for a writing and speaking and serving season beyond anything I’ve experienced in the past. That said, I promised to return soon with the interpretation of my Eagle sightings, so in the spirit of my comments above I will give you the short version. God has long spoken to me through encounters with nature, but especially with animals in the wild… most often birds (consider the birds, ravens, and sparrows as Jesus instructs and you too may also see the actions of birds as messages or signs of divine nature), and this encounter was especially powerful for the reasons described in the previous post. Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles simply do not fly together… they do not gather over the same water hole or circle the same yard at the same time… not by their natural behavior anyway. The fact that both birds flew the same exact path over my yard and each looked directly into my eyes (or my camera lens) jolted me as only God can… the fact I was looking for the Golden Eagle to circle back and instead was greeted by a bald eagle (with crowning feathers white as snow) gave me chills of the Holy Spirit kind, but the Word of God that immediately came to mind was the obvious… Matthew 24:28 (and also cited by Luke in Luke 17:37) where Jesus tells us that the gathering of eagles are signs for his return (or rapture, the apocalypse, end of the age, the final judgement, etc.). And though that subject relates to all of scripture, I’m not claiming the eagles came to warn me that the end was near… on the contrary. Like Jesus, I love nature. I “so love the world” and every creature in it, just as does our Father in heaven, so I pay close attention to environmental issues and to the health and well being of human beings everywhere, and also animals everywhere, for surely we are all intertwined if only by co-dependence on our ecosystem… but as Jesus inferred through God’s eye on the sparrow… by spiritual connections as well. So through my double Eagle experience (plus one massive Osprey seen hovering over a pond just minutes after seeing the Eagles as I drove from my neighborhood), God did in fact call me to see the signs of the times, and these particular verses from Jesus Apocalyptic discourse (which I had interpreted with more morbidity before this day) suddenly made great sense to me, and ironically it’s less about the birds than I formerly assumed. It has more to do with the condition of the lesser creatures… most notably the fish. Eagles and Osprey risk fishing in populated areas only when their food sources grow scarce. Quite simply, fish are being poisoned and their number is dwindling at alarming rates. We know that to be an obvious truth, but we don’t seem (as a people or as a nation) to want to see where this will lead our global ecosystem. If eagles are gathering (I’ll leave you to do your own interpretation of the actual verses and what they may imply concerning final judgment or “the body/carcass” which Jesus cites in these two verses), we must see the ”signs of our times” as Jesus compels us. if we poison our waters of this world it affects every living thing on earth. I could go on, but I believe you can fill in the blanks yourself. God is concerned about the birds and the flowers, and yes, the water too. We live as if He only cares about humans, and the oil tragedy in the Gulf is another spiritual sign… not merely a global tragedy. What will we do with it? Many believe that the poisoning of our planet is not merely the trigger for an apocalyptic age but also a marker on the body who will be judged most harshly (the carcass?), and it’s hard to disagree. For those who have eyes that see, let them see. I’d like to end this post with the lyrics from a song I wrote after the Exxon Valdez tragedy in the late 80’s. I was an atheist in Grad school when I wrote it, but added the final verse once I was born again in Christ. I pray it speaks to you…
No End
In my eyes there’s a ship with her burden
Blackened beach and her pitch on the ocean
Ground the birds as the fish are all drowning
I pray for the world with no end
At my feet there’s a world slowly turning
Stones cry out in the greenhouse that’s burning
Earth runs dry as the flood water’s rising
I Pray for the world with no end
A way, we must find the Way through the evils that we have created
Away we can’t run away from what we have done
In my eyes there’s a sweet mother weeping
For the life of her baby she’s mourning
Who’s to blame when the children are dying?
I Pray for the world with no end
A way, we must find the Way through the evils that we have created
Away we can’t run away from what we have done
On the calendar of man’s regeneration
But one minute of one day do we all share
Do we have the right to leave the next generation
all these sins to bear?
In my eyes there’s a storm cloud arising
Scorch the earth in a blood red horizon
Kingdoms fall as the horsemen keep riding
I pray for the world, so loved the world
Pray for the world with no end
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March 5, 2010
An American Golden Eagle over Charleston, SC on 3-5-10
I live in the last neighborhood in Charleston, SC along the Ashley River before entering the historic plantations and gardens of Ashley River Road. So we’re basically living on restructured swamp lands just like the plantations, and are therefore a natural bird sanctuary for all the scenic ponds and large wooded burms needed to conserve the wetlands. I’m a true egg head and nature lover so bird watching has always been a subconscious hobby. I simply love to admire birds. When I first read that Jesus also admired the birds, and even directed us to consider them for the spiritual lessons they can teach us, I believe I was moved more than most avid bird watchers because A) I was an atheist at the time and B) In the year leading up to that 1st reading I had several striking experiences with birds… small anomalies and unfolding stories alike… oddities that seemed supernatural compared to behavior I had previously witnessed in birds anywhere at anytime. Though that single connection paled to the larger revelations and the ultimate transformation that began the night of that first full Gospel reading, I will always marvel at the mysterious ways God sometimes chooses to speak us…. I pray for more every day. Maybe that’s why I’ve continued witnessing (for lack of a better term) bird signs… mostly casual winks of cool bird encounters, yet I don’t let them feel too casual… I still marvel at it. Today while working in our combined office area (our sun room) that looks across our yard and a scenic little pond, my daughter Amber and I noticed a bird way larger than a goose or buzzard swooping across the pond and over our yard. Realizing it was an eagle of some sort, I grabbed my camera and dashed out to see if he’d let me take his picture. Of the hundreds of varieties of birds that live on or migrate through our pond every year, over the 7 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen an Eagle fly overhead at any height… never mind 50 to 100 feet overhead. Suddenly I was part of a dance that involved not one but two eagles, two totally unrelated eagles, suspiciously turning up in my yard at the same time for the same reason. Here’s a shot I took of each bird. I have to dash, but I’ll be back to finish the story. There is a twist, and an interpretation.
A Bald Eagle over Charleston, SC on 3-5-10
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February 17, 2010
Amber sees God in the Snow
My beautiful, charismatic and hopefully romantic 19 year old daughter Amber Caparas recently wrote a compelling message and plea for the sake of virginity and the sanctity of the wedding bed in her blog post titled “Worth the Wait.” I hope you’ll read it and share it with your friends.
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January 31, 2010
I was reminded of a worship song this morning… through a brother in Christ whom God has often used to speak to me, and I hope to share this message with you today. You don’t need the music, you don’t need the voices… simply meditate on the deep meaning of this chorus and be blessed. I don’t know the writer, but I know the writer’s Lord.
Turn my heart oh God, like rivers of water
Turn my heart oh God, by your hand
Until my whole life flows in the river of Your Spirit
and my name brings honor… to the Lamb
Lord I surrender to Your work in me
I rest my life within Your hand
Turn my heart oh God, like rivers of water
Turn my heart oh God, by your hand
Until my whole life flows in the river of Your Spirit
and my name brings honor… till my name brings honor
until my name brings honor… to the Lamb… the Christ
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January 15, 2010
After a season away from the blogosphere I feel truly liberated to be back. Many of you already know my 19 year old daughter Amber is an anointed singer/songwriter who felt (and I concurred) that God wanted her to try out for American Idol… for reasons we have yet to learn. So we drove up to Atlanta this Summer and waited in line with 10,000 hopeful contestants and thousands more of their family and friends at the Georgia Dome where they methodically sorted through the “kids” until they finally worked down to just 25 that advance to Hollywood with the proverbial golden ticket, and Amber was gleefully in that number. Due to a confidentiality contract they asked me to sign (to protect the integrity of their reveals) I agreed to stay silent these 6 months since, which partially explains why I took a break from blogging here at JesusDNA. There’s more to my short sabbatical, and I hope to further explain once my contract expires. But now that they have aired her Atlanta audition episode and disclosed that she is one of the Hollywood finalists, I am free to discuss that much, (more…)
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July 18, 2009
Due to my prolonged silence here, several have asked if I’ve stopped writing, and while I’m grateful anyone noticed, that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I’m simply so deeply in the mission field right now (yes, our professional work can be a mission field, in fact, it MUST be so) that the time I might spend writing here is instead being spent on my face before God… praying, meditating, dreaming, and simply praising Him for the season I’m in now, and the one that is yet to come. So this is my time across the lake, to be alone with Him, so that when I return I will have a fresh new word to share… a new song to sing. Until then, I pray my past writings… especially my 3 part series on the “God Concept,” can serve as fresh water and manna for anyone in need of a non-religious, anti-dogmatic window to a life lived all out for the gospel of Christ. Until then… please read the Gospel of John, then Matthew, Mark, and Luke until the words in red are written more deeply on your heart than anything else you have ever studied or memorized or enjoyed. These are the words that are Life, and if anything competes for your attention or your affections more than these, you might want to jump right to the 6th chapter of John, verses 22-70 to see what that might imply, and I hope you find yourself, right now, standing among the very few who are willing to live solely by every word that proceeds from the very mouth of God. And if you’re already there, go find a child in genuine need, lift her up and suffer for her, for Christ’s sake, not for your own.
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April 10, 2009
In season’s like this, where fear and uncertainty spread like a virus through the masses, it’s easy to see why the words “do not be afraid” appear in the bible some 365 times (depending on the translation). Though I once questioned how “believers” can live in even the most mild state of fear, I realize now that I was sometimes attributing fear to other instinctive emotions that are not necessarily signs of doubt, but can actually be the activity of genuine faith in a time of danger. For that, I repent of my former arrogance and ignorance concerning this matter, and I simply pray through my own times of deep concern… and always find peace in the very moment I clear my my heart and mind and soul of all earthly matters and set my all back on Christ… asking Him not simply to take care of the issue, but far more… to take over all of ME, so that I never again return to a place where I had to reset myself. I pray the same for you. In a faith where His ways are all that matter, I pray for you that His presence in you is truly ALL that matters. From there, as the Beatles quoted mother Mary, “let it be.” Words of wisdom indeed.
I’m in a season of tremendous busy-ness right now… with lots to “let be.” Thus the low activity at JesusDNA over these past few months. Times like these remind me of how grateful I am for the Old Testament record… and for the epistles… and history books and archaeology that prove the incredible obedience through great hardships so many have endured to ensure we would each be blessed with the Gospel… to prepare for similar hardships of our own. So I press through, and thank God that I truly love the type of work I do, as any real artist should, as any true believer should. And I trust that soon — Like Paul during his post-Demascus Road years as an inconspicuous tent maker — God will move me out of this busy-ness into the full activity of preaching the Gospel… from rootops, from temple steps, from seaside boats, from grassy hillsides, from underground caves, and from devices of modern design. I know this work He has me doing now is His will, for reasons of His own, and though I believe I can see His threads weaving through my work, I know it’s far more important that I “live” the Gospel through this season of busy-ness… for the sake of my staff, and my partners, and my friends and family, and for anyone else who may be watching. I believe it was St. Francis Asisi who said (to paraphrase), “In everything I do I live only to preach the Gospel, and sometimes, I will speak.” I get it.
I’m working on a web project that should offer a “rooftop” for every person who lives in my little town of Charleston, SC. It is at GreaterCharleston.com. Give it a look, and maybe it will speak to you as a “proof” of His movement in me, but at very least it should prove that “considering the birds of the air and flowers of the field” are as much a Gospel effort today as they were when He compelled us to do so from that grassy hill at the sea of Galilee. For this, I simply do what He made me to do, and though I weave, I do not spin. Though I clothe, I do not dress up. His beauty is all that I see (see Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8). Cheers in your own season of busy-ness.
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March 11, 2009
I encourage everyone who breathes to read an article that was published yesterday in The Christian Science Monitor titled The coming evangelical collapse, by Michael Spencer. It is powerfully important, and worthy of some sort of response even if you disagree. For a sampling, consider these excerpts from Spencer’s essay:
This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.
The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.
We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.
Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.
The ascendency of Charismatic-Pentecostal-influenced worship around the world can be a major positive for the evangelical movement if reformation can reach those churches and if it is joined with the calling, training, and mentoring of leaders. If American churches come under more of the influence of the movement of the Holy Spirit in Africa and Asia, this will be a good thing.
Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, “Christianity loves a crumbling empire.” We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.
Please Click Here to read the full article. Then please, pass it around. I truly believe most if not all of Mr. Spencer’s essay to be a word from God. You be the judge…
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