Amber Caparas

If you live in Charleston or are an avid professional tennis fan then you are probably very familiar with the Family Circle Cup, Charleston’s very own international sporting event held every year at the spectacular Family Circle Stadium on Daniel Island. As an intern for GreaterCharleston.com I had the honor of covering the event from down on the court this year! It was an amazing experience…and very intense thanks to Germany’s 19 year old Sabine Lisicki, the lowest-seeded, lowest-ranked woman to ever rise to the ranks of Family Circle Cup Champions…it was one of the best Cinderella Stories I’ve ever witnessed!!!

Click here to see the video!

Click here to see my short video blog of the race from start to finish at GreaterCharleston.com!

It’s about time! I was born and raised in Charleston and currently attend the College of Charleston, yet until this past Saturday, I had never taken part in the legendary Cooper River Bridge Run. Ironically it has been my love for running that has kept me from taking part in this great Charleston tradition. The Bridge Run is always the first Saturday in April, and as a four year track athlete at West Ashley High I’ve had an out-of-town meet every ‘Bridge Run Day’, so I couldn’t even attend the big party at Marion Square. I suppose I could have run the race in middle school, but the Arthur Ravenel Bridge wasn’t built yet, and I remember horror stories of runners feeling the old structure bouncing, swaying, and groaning under every step. For that, I  had a childish certainty that the old rickety bridge would collapse as soon as I reached the top, and that just wasn’t for me.  Thank you cousin Arthur!

So there I was, on the morning of Saturday, April 4, 2009 — 18 years after I took my first steps in this beautiful town — standing in a crowd of over 30,000 people, about to take part in a ‘happening’ that had me awestruck for most of my childhood. Pretty cool.

 Like any event of this magnitude, you really can’t appreciate it until you experience it for yourself. You’ve got to be there at the start, stretching awkwardly close to the guy behind you, with your number pinned to your shirt and your running shoes laced to full-torque perfection, to experience the rush of adrenaline that comes with having to run 6 miles, much of it uphill, with thousands of energized strangers. The excitement exceeded all of my expectations. I must admit however, I felt a little out of place at the start. As I looked around, it seemed I was the only one wearing the official 2009 Cooper River Bridge Run t-shirt. I saw a group of women dressed up as “pin-up” nurses, a couple of kids disguised as various boxes of cereal, and I’m quite sure a giant banana ran past me, but few official bridge run shirts. I obviously missed the ‘wear the wackiest thing you own’ memo. At least I got the ‘wear your most comfortable shoes’ alert, unlike one man who ran the entire race in his business shoes and office clothes!

 

The 6 mile run was by no means easy, even for a relatively experienced runner like me, so I was beyond inspired to see the elderly, the amputees, the young children, and the cancer survivors running by my side, refusing to give up! No matter how much their bodies seemed to fight them, the expression on their faces showed that giving up simply was not an option. At around the 4 mile mark, I noticed one elderly man who was really beginning to struggle. He was favoring one leg over the other and it seemed as if he just couldn’t keep his head up anymore. I tried to catch up with him, but before I could get there, another young man ran to his side and began helping him along. This was just one of the many displays of love and compassion I witnessed along the way.

I will never forget my time running the 32nd annual Cooper River Bridge Run. I will never forget the nervous anticipation before the race began and killer cramp I got within the first mile. I will never forget how surreal it felt to be running on the top of the majestic Ravenel Bridge and to see an ocean of people ahead and another behind of me… especially as we crossed over the river… which looked especially blue that morning, as did the sky. I will never forget the determined faces of the men and women and children who ran by my side. And of course, I will never forget how good it felt to finally cross that finish line! In the end, every mile was worth the while! I can’t wait to run it again!

Well, the time has come. I will be going into the studio tomorrow (and the 6 days following) to record my first album! This project has been a lifetime in the making, and is the result of one thing…God’s AMAZING grace. All the times I turned away…He never counted me lost!!! And so this album is my offering of thanks to Jesus–my truth, my hope, and my Love.

As I enter this momentous week of my life, I ask each of you to please keep me in your prayers. I am praying and believing that God will sing through me, will inspire the band, and will produce a genuine move of the Holy Spirit throughout the entire process…and that if at any moment, I should begin to lose focus, not one note would come out of my mouth until I am back, locked in on Him, and Him alone!

God’s will be done:-), I love you all…Time to make some music!!!

“I’m very happy to write you this letter. How is your family? Here, my family is doing fine by the grace of God! It’s very cold in Burkina Faso! School is also fine because my courses are going good. My Uncle was married last month. I am very happy because his wife is very kind. Please pray for my school. How will you celebrate Easter? Me, I get to go to church! Love, Zoma”

I’ve never been much of a reader.  Honestly, I don’t think I read a single novel in high school…and I never did summer reading (Sparknotes baby!).  It’s not something I’m proud of.  I used to excuse my distaste for reading as a symptom of my minor dyslexia (just one of the consequences of being a lefty), but really, I was just too dang lazy! 

However, a few months ago, I went through another spiritual rebirth of sorts and I was so desperate for contact with Jesus that I immersed myself in the Gospels like never before. I just wanted to read and read and read…believing that with every word I took in, I would begin to transcend to His reality.  I had faith that God would sense my hunger for more of Him and would come and fill me up…  But the more I read…the hungrier I became…and I am so grateful for that hunger!!!  I never want to be satisfied again!  Woe to me if I no longer want more of Him!  

Then, about a week ago, my Dad bought me another copy of one of Brian McLaren’s best-sellers, The Secret Message of Jesus.  I already “read” it a couple of years ago…but I didn’t really READ it if you know what I mean…

Oh, but this time…this time I’m taking it all in!…and already, just four chapters in, I’m beginning to see Jesus in a brand new light…and I’m falling in  love with Him and His life-giving message all over again! 

It’s so good, I would re-type the whole book, but why do that when you could easily pick up a copy of your own;-) and please do.

The hardback cover is hard to find, so look for the paperback edition at Amazon.com.

My God! I need you. I am not alright without you! I tried…and sure, for short spurts this body of mine felt pleasure, felt excitement, felt accomplishment–but all the while my mind was at war, my soul was tormented, and my heart was mourning the death of the child that I used to be. But YOU! God YOU overcame the alien that had taken over my body and blinded my eyes. You gave me COURAGE–courage to care less about me, about my comfort, about how I appeared to other people! You gave me your heart just for a moment…and in that moment I felt you. I felt what really matters in this short little life I’ve been given! To believe in you, to love you, to recognize your beauty in this world! Everything else, every ambition, every fear, every care…they were just my lame attempts at keeping my mind too busy to ever face the truth–that YOU ARE THE ONLY REAL THING! The rest of this is just an illusion. We really are empty space, an infinity of particles whizzing around, trying to convince each other that we’re something solid. But this I know, you are the only thing that has proven SOLID! MY ROCK!

Oh Jesus, you must have known the effect your words would have on your children… “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Mathew 16:24-27)

It really is that simple! Oh Jesus! I feel you holding me in your arms right now! Yes Lord! You have me! I am yours…and this is what you have revealed to me…

This is the meaning of life:

To love you in this moment, and this one, and even more in this one, and in this one like no other, and this one even more than the last…I love you so much that all I want to do is feel your presence…and so in this moment I read what you said on Earth…and in this moment I praise you with my voice…and in this one I feel moved to pick up my guitar and make the strings sing for you as well…and in this moment I love you in a child’s eyes…and in this moment I feel you in the warmth of a fire…and in this moment I admire your planet and everything in it…and in this moment I feel tragedy…and in the next, I feel you comforting me!  And so the moments turn into hours and the hours into days and the days into years and the years into a lifetime…and then…well, then I suppose I wake up from the dream…and I pray that when I come knocking on heavens door, you will not say to me, “I do not know you!” (Mathew 25:12) but you will say to me, “Well done my good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Mathew 25:23)

So Happy New Moment everybody…after new moment, after new moment, after new moment……for every new moment of your life!

I have always been drawn to the night sky. I could spend hours admiring the stars, wondering which ones are planets, distant suns, or entire galaxies! I used to try so hard to grasp infinite space—how it was that something could never end while continuing to expand at an exponential rate! To me, the idea of an infinitely expanding Universe only made sense as what I consider to be a “virtual reality,” a code imbedded into the human thought program as an idea to…well, to do many things I don’t understand, but surely, to make us question. No matter how many Earthly things science can decode and manipulate (gravity for instance), the Universe will always be there to remind us that we are but specks in an ungraspable existence of all that is—a virtual reality in and of ourselves.

Of course, the rabbit hole goes much deeper than that…for one must also question the Source of the Universe!…the catalyst that sparked the Big Bang and sent this life into motion!…the CODE WRITER!

And there is only one text book that answers that question—the Bible!

John 1:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…”

God! The light! The catalyst that sparked life into motion! The code writer himself! I see it!  I believe!

“…And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…”

Thus, the tragedy of mankind! But take heart, for the light came to set us free from our blindness!

“…the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

But every human is born of flesh and blood…how can someone become born of God? Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, Thanksgiving! It’s been such a great one! Auntie Dede and Uncle Bob (my Nana’s sis and brother-in-law) came down from Boston to spend it with us this year. My Nana has three sisters and my great grandpa gave them all nicknames…Nana was called “Patty Girl,” Denice was called “Dede,” Simone was called “Bootsy,” and Felice was called “Doodoo.” My Auntie Dede always jokes, “Can you imagine what we sounded like around a grocery store?…, “Hey Patty girl, find Dede and tell Doodoo to get off of Bootsy!” Haha ; ) Tell you what though, my Auntie Dede can COOOOK! Whew, we feasted! Slow roasted Turkey (thanks to the Turkey fairy, right Auntie?), all of my favorites: mashed taters, butternut squash, stuffed mushrooms, artichoke, a secret family stuffing recipe, fried cauliflower (sounds strange, so delicious), cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and SOOOOO much more! I tell my Auntie all the time, she needs to open a restaurant! You hear that Auntie, you need to open a restaurant!…and call it “Dedle’s Yum-Yums!” ; ) If nothing else, she needs to write a cook book with all of her magical recipes so I can open a restaurant in her name.

I did a lot of thinking on Thanksgiving…I guess that’s kind of the point, huh? I am thankful for so much:
–God, for writing me into this beautifully complex story of his, for showing me what this life is all about, and for never giving up on me
–Jesus, for showing me the way to live
–Daddy, for showing me what it means to really love another human being
–The rest of my family, for all the great writing material that I will surely put into a script someday…you know what i’m talking about ; )
–Elizabeth and Zoma (the two children we sponsor in Africa), for your letters and for giving me the great gift of perspective!
–My other Mothers, for loving me as if I were their own
–The angels that have come into my life over the years through friends, teachers, and strangers
–Music, for reaching into that special place inside and giving me a way to express what I couldn’t otherwise
–My puppies, for being so freaking cute!
–This planet for being so ungraspably amazing and so unbelievably gorgeous
–Those special moments of grace when out of nowhere I just feel overwhelming joy!
–The Universe, for reminding me that no matter how much I may think I get it…I have no idea
–Having warm bed, an abundance of food, and clean water (there aren’t many on this planet that can say that)
–Destiny!

What are you thankful for?

I came across this video on Godtube.com. LIFE IS ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE! Enjoy!

It’s no wonder people find it so impossible to believe in God these days. You don’t even have to see the hypocrisy in most churches to know that something is seriously wrong with Christianity.

Gandhi once said:

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

So, what does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean when someone can claim to believe in Jesus and then be NOTHING like him? And then I remember…wait, I know the answers to all of these questions. I know, because I used to be a part of the problem…

When I was younger, I was an avid church goer and man did I look holy. I jumped around and lifted my hands up during worship…I gave an AMEN at all of the appropriate moments. I looked like the typical spirit-filled Christian…and it felt really good. I have to admit, at times, I would experience little shock waves of transcendence, an endorphin release of sorts. It is just so easy to get swept away in that kind of mass emotionalism. It’s like the first time I went to a Red Sox game with my Dad. I certainly wasn’t the kind of fan he was and yet in the moment I got just as swept up and emotional as him…jumping out of my seat and screaming at the top of my lungs like life depended on Papi hitting a homer! And just like I was back to my normal self when the game was over, I remained unchanged after every worship service…sure, the high might have remained a little longer at times, but it was still just a momentary high…it didn’t change who I was at my core…The temporary stroking of the flesh meant nothing because there was never any kind of transformation in me…no born again, “Oh my God, you are real!!!,” on my knees, arms extended, take me now kind of desperation that genuinely changed me forever!

I was living a lie…and to lie to oneself…now that is hell. Nothing kills a relationship faster than lies, we all know that. So what do we think Read the rest of this entry »