by Bret Capranica | Oct 27, 2006 | Personal
I live just at the base of the mountains where the Esperanza fires continue to rage. The blaze began on the opposite side of the mountain from where we are located, but both last night and tonight, we can clearly see the flames. I can walk outside my house and see a bright and blazing trail winding down the mountain toward our neck of the woods. So far, we have heard no warnings about our area and I don’t think the fire will threaten us due to the San Jacinto river bed that separates us from the hills. However, we continue to be covered with ash and breathe in smoke from the fires. We could breathe a bit easier this evening – much better than yesterday and this morning. Please pray for the men fighting this fire and the many who live up on the Mountain. A dad of one of the families in our church is a fire fighter struggling with this latest blaze which has claimed almost 40,000 acres so far. The pictures were taken yesterday. Believe it or not, no clouds in the sky – the haze is the smoke and ash blanketing the...
by Bret Capranica | Sep 2, 2006 | Personal
Yesterday was Kelly and my five year wedding anniversary. Tonight we strolled down memory lane, having dinner at the restaurant where I proposed to her and then headed to downtown Los Angeles and enjoyed the revolving lounge at the Westin Bonaventure, the hotel where we spent our first day after being married. I love seeing all of downtown L.A. at night – a beautiful scene. I have a wonderful wife. She is a constant source of encouragement to me. She loves Christ, she loves the Word of God and she loves serving Christ’s people. She loves being deeply involved in the work of the ministry. She is the perfect complement to me personally and in the ministry in which we enjoy serving Christ. We talked again of the providential way God brought us together through a prying seminary professor of mine and plotting friends of hers. Our meeting and marriage was at the perfect time and in the perfect way. I can never say enough of how thankful I am for God giving me such a gift as He has in my wife. Tomorrow we plan to worship at Grace Community Church and then head to The Reagan Library for a look-see at the new Air Force One display. You can bet there will be pics coming of that one. Monday we head home and back to the ministry we so enjoy investing...
by Bret Capranica | Aug 29, 2006 | Personal
At the moment, I sitting at a great little coffee shop in Lake Arrowhead, drinking a cappuccino, making use of the wireless internet at DeLago’s coffee shop, and otherwise doing virtually nothing of any real significance. Planned laziness. How’s that for disciplined productivity! Since it’s been a few days that THE CAPRANICA has had seen a fresh post, I’ll catch us up on the past week. Last Wednesday through Saturday, I spent some time with a half dozen men on a retreat at Lake Mojave. We had a great time talking about ordering our lives around biblical priorities. We enjoyed great fellowship with one another. Hitting 70 mph on the SeaDo’s was awesome. Though I missed the all night fishing trip (I see sleep as a biblical priority), the 42 lb. Striper Seth and boys caught was an incredible site. We were also thrilled to see one of the men give his life to Christ while on the trip. Many thanks to Jaron for his great generosity with the house and boat. Great thanks for Jason for bringing along the SeaDo and trusting me not to destroy them. Kel and I are enjoying a week of vacation. We’ll be in Arrowhead for a few days, Palm Springs for a few and then Santa Clarita. I intend to make my pilgrimage to The Reagan Library at the end of the week. Assuming I can find internet access, I’ll post a...
by Bret Capranica | Jun 27, 2006 | Personal
Michaela, we are so sorry that your dad could not be with you for your birthday today because of his class. But, we all celebrated with you today. Here’s a picture of your dad (David) and the cup cakes we enjoyed in honor of your 7th birthday. We hope its been a great...
by Bret Capranica | Jun 27, 2006 | Personal
Some of the fun from Louisville this week: No word yet on the project. I hope to know a little more before the end of the week. Thanks to you who are praying. My cohort consists of four other men from different parts of the country. We have been together through four DMin. seminars now, this week is our last. David, from Missouri; Michael from Mississippi; Jason from Kentucky and Richard from Arkansas. These are four awesome guys. I’ve enjoyed their friendship and the fellowship we have had over the past year and a half. It is hard to believe this is our last seminar together. We received word late last week that Richard would not be able to join us this week due to his wife having surgery. We’ve been praying for Richard and his wife Karen throughout the week. Richard – if you’re reading, it just isn’t the same without you. Without you being here, I’m sure I will be able to convert the guys to be pre-trib, pre-mills by the week’s end! We do miss you, and have been praying for you and your wife all week. I’ll blog a bit more on some of our outings later (it’s too late now). I arrived in Louisville behind on a number of papers that needed to be turned in yesterday. So, I have not had much more than about three to four hours of sleep each evening for the past seven days. I’m feeling it now. So, short blog now – more tomorrow. I’ll up date you on the incredible looking car we have for the week,...
by Bret Capranica | Jun 23, 2006 | Personal
My first of two classes began today at Southern Seminary: Project Methodology II. The II at the end of the class name supposes that I have taken and passed the one of similar verbage, yet follwed by I. Oh what a difference a year makes. This particular class tells us how to begin going about writing our doctoral projects. My project has to do with the local church being directly invovled in the formal training of future pastors. This has been a project I have been pursuing for quite some time now and there were moments today that it appeared the prof was not pleased with the project idea. As a matter of fact, he changed a great degree of the focus of the project from the direction I was given a year ago. So, instead of writing another book review this afternoon and evening (which I must still do), I have been rewriting my project proposal. Stacy and James, if you are reading, don’t be worried. . . . Be very worried. Tomorrow will be a deciding day for me on the project. I have reworked my proposal and will shower extra carefully tomorrow so as to be at my persuasive best. Despite some of the tension of the class today, my wife Kelly and I had the joy of having lunch with Pastor Steve Weaver. Some of you who read this blog may know him from the very famous and substantive blog creatively entitled, “Pastor Steve Weaver’s Blog.” Steve is a humble and encouraging servant. He was just finishing a week of classes for his ThM in...
