Month: October 2010

Peppermint sprig

James HoganLeave a comment

It’s a lovely Aberdeen morning! I so much love being able to sit inside by the window with my coffee, staying toasty warm…and looking outside to see the clouds gently float by in the cornflower blue sky…

And I suppose you all wouldn’t mind a minor update, right? Right?? Honestly, not too much to report, except that all is well and I’m learning that a scarf and gloves are very nice to have. Oh yeah, and it sort of snowed this past weekend. In October!! When we were getting ready to leave for work this past Wednesday, Uche looked out the window and said, “It’s snowing.” I didn’t really believe him at first…until I looked outside. And yes, it was definitely snowing. Warm enough that it was a pretty wet snow, but snow nonetheless. The snow only stayed on the ground until noon, when the sun melted it all away…but now we’ll see if this early snow is a sign of a crazy winter to come.

Oh and had a couple sweet nights this past week at church – Wednesday night was Bible study/prayer time, which was of course sweet(talking about Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1), but the best part was the praying at the end and then talking with some new friends until we figured out we were the last people left(standing outside in the not-quite-bitter cold). Good times!! And Thursday night was game night at the church, which involved much crazy quiz games and running around and human Pictionary…and generally all-around smashing times.

Now it’s the weekend and I’m so far having a relaxing Saturday morning(soon to be noon!) and getting ready to walk down Union Street in a few minutes. Probably going to check the used book shops and see if they have any good books in! And I am displeased – the sky’s starting to cloud up a bit…looking like it may become overcast. Oh well, I won’t complain…because it’s not raining. Yet.

And because it’s been a little while since I’ve posted a top songs list…here we go! Except this time, you get two for the price of one!! I’ve decided that, since I’ve always talked about which hymns/worship songs are in my top five, but never actually defined that list, I probably have seven top five hymns. And that’s just bad math. So…hymns top five – count ’em down! (And before you start castigating me for the order I have these in, the order is very fluid and subject to change…so no whingeing allowed):

5. Amazing Grace – This is an all time classic and deservedly so. Every time I sing it, I feel overwhelmed with joy. How can I not?? Sidenote: the inclusion of this music in Star Trek II made the movie all the better. True story. And I feel I have another hymn that may actually be number five in place of this one…but I can’t think of it, so Amazing Grace gets this spot.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me…
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

4. Be Thou My Vision – A beautiful prayer to the King of Kings, rightly focusing on our Lord. Oh how I love singing this…I sadly realized I did not have a copy of this on my iTunes, so I just found a Jars of Clay version recently, a cause for great rejoicing!

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

3. And Can it Be(Amazing Love) – Whenever I see we’re going to sing this song at church, my heart skips a beat. One of the most lovely songs depicting salvation. EVER. When I sing it, my mind joyfully remembers and rejoices in what Jesus our Lord has done for me!!

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior’s blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2. Holy Holy Holy – This has long been one of my favorites, probably longer than any other song on this list. And for good reason. It oh so majestically reminds me of the Lord God Almighty to whom all glory and majesty and dominion and power belongs. I can’t describe it…except that I love it. If you want to hear it, youtube the Keith Green version of it. I love hearing the passion in his voice(another recent iTunes addition). Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!!

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

1. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – And here we come to number one. This song became my number one favorite song of all time one Sunday morning at Creekside Community Church, freshman year at UF. Singing it and being reminded of Jesus who saved me by his glorious grace, and his grace alone!! And that despite my sins and slips and failures…He holds me still. I love it so.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Honorable mention: Hallelujah Chorus – really, I LOVE singing this, especially in a MASSIVE group of people…alas, it is not often done, so I’m not including it. But one of my favorite experiences of all time was singing this purely God-praising/glorifying/worshiping song in a group of ~300 people. Amazing. A very picture and faint image of heaven.

And there we go. To summarize:
5. Amazing Grace
4. Be Thou My vision
3. And Can it Be?
2. Holy, Holy, Holy
1. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

YES.

And don’t worry, since I decided that an epic two-cookie post has been far too long in coming, that’s not all the music we have for today. But before I finish the musical program for today, just wanted to muse a bit over…life, the universe and everything? No, not quite. Well, at least not today. But wanted to talk a bit(really, I will try to be brief!) on the subject of marriage. And yes, I know, I am most definitely not married, so take all my words with several grains of salt. But I’ve been for some reason bombarded lately by discussions and messages on marriage(whether it be the recent sermon series at church or the blog topic at several blogs I read or talking to my good friends), and so that’s been on my mind more often than not lately. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I leave to you. Well actually, it’s not bad as long as I don’t overly focus on it to the detriment of my walk with the Lord and seeking after His face. And I talk about it little enough on here, I felt I’d share these thoughts. And now that my long-winded(really, did you expect anything else?) introduction is coming to a middle, just consider these words and feel very free to correct or rebuke me! And encouraging words are always nice too!

Anyways, I was talking to my flatmate Uche this morning, and were(for some reason!) talking about the extravagances of weddings. Apparently, some things never change, from America to Scotland to Nigeria. But as we were discussing this, it struck both of us that the strong emphasis on the wedding is sometimes to the detriment of the actual marriage! Some people will go deeply in debt to put on an impressive wedding and then a year later, the divorce papers are filed. Truly, truly tragic. But why are the weddings so important? We do want to celebrate the two becoming one flesh, yes. And there’s nothing wrong with joyful celebrations! But I feel that sometimes a wedding is seen as an event, something that is an epic event in and of itself. Oftentimes(I will not admit to this!), we dream of “the wedding” and all the pageantry that is so involved. Why do we do this, when the wedding day is gone in the blink of an eye.

Rather, as a man and a woman come together, their focus and goal should be a marriage and life together. That is forever(well, sort of). Instead of spending all our pre-marriage time pondering and looking towards a celebration, let us look towards a life of oneness and unity! A life of serving each other! I wrote down a good quote from a sermon at my church a few weeks past…I’m sure it won’t be foreign to any of you: “Love is a willful decision of giving one self to another”. I love that. I won’t be spending a multitude of words talking about the nature of love(I think I’ve done that before anyways), but is that not beautiful?? We shouldn’t be looking towards marriage as something that will satisfy our needs or make us happier or fill an emptiness in our souls. Should I be thinking that a woman will answer my heart’s deepest longings? Absolutely not! (And neither should a woman think that of a man. Um, yeah, we men are definitely not all that) We should be looking to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ first and foremost. As we pursue Christ, we will see that we can serve as He served. And that marriage is one of the best opportunities to serve that will ever come along. Or so I’m told. In marriage, love is serving and loving and encouraging and correcting and feeding and sacrificing. And the foundation of that is our love in and of Christ. True that? Yes.

Now I’m trying to remember what my point is(that’s the problem when I semi-stream-of-consciousness-write…*scrolls back to top of page* Ah yes) But if I really wanted to talk about marriage and all the intricacies and beauties therein, it would take more words than I have. I might possibly discover the word limit on livejournal. But marriage is a man and woman coming together as one. A man will love his wife above himself. Whoa. And marriage is a picture of Christ and His church and the amazing love that is the very cornerstone of that relationship! Marriage is a man and a woman truly loving each other, every second of every day, and seeking to use their oneness as a vehicle to serve and love others, whether they be in the Church or not. That. Is. Beautiful. And yes, yes, I know it very often doesn’t look like that. But that’s what we(who are married, or may one day) should be striving after. Let’s strive, yo? Sweet.

And now that I’ve either thoroughly bored you(please don’t tell me though) or underwhelmed you(don’t tell me that either) or encouraged and uplifted you(you can tell me that!!)…time for our musical postlude.

Just made a new mix-CD…well actually, a mix-iTunes playlist. Once I get some CDs, I’ll burn it. BUT, this will give you an idea of my current favs. Also, I sort of cheated…I have a rule I made for myself: one song per group. Yeah, couldn’t do that this time. Nightwish and Muse both ended up with two. Oops. Also, if this list doesn’t convince you of my weird crazy eclectic music taste…yeah, nothing will.

Now presenting…Granite Realism

1. Wildfire – Sonata Arctica
2. Slaying the Dreamer – Nightwish
3. Holy Thunderforce – Rhapsody
4. Showbiz – Muse
5. Fireflies – Owl City
6. Far Away – Ingrid Michaelson
7. Ballad of Bilbo Baggins – Leonard Nimoy
8. Please don’t Leave Me – Pink
9. Alejandro – Lady GaGa
10. Fix You – Coldplay
11. Just – Radiohead
12. Unnatural Selection – Muse
13. May It Be – Enya
14. Girl Named Tennessee – Needtobreathe
15. Sleeping Sun – Nightwish
16. Be Thou My Vision – Jars of Clay
17. Savannah – Relient K
18. Holy, Holy, Holy – Keith Green

It’s been real, y’all. It’s been fun. But, it’s time for this party to come to an end. I did say this was a two-cookie post. I lied. Three-cookie post. I made peanut butter cookies recently…if you read this all, you can claim ’em. Rock on, y’all!!

Truly yours

James HoganLeave a comment

Driving back home from work in the rain, grey foreboding clouds omnipresent in the sky,
I crested the hill to look out over the city of Aberdeen. Oddly enough,
a gentle light bathed the city. I looked up to see an opening in the sky,
almost as if someone standing on the clouds above had taken a giant shovel
to the grim layer and scooped a hole. A diamond shaped hole,
wedged through the scowling storm-clouds like a tent peg driven through
the earth, boldly defiant on a canvas of weeping faces drawn
in pain and deep weariness and hopeless abandon of all that is good,
like a stained glass window except without the glass and without the stain,
and through this window in the sky I could see bright blue sky and golden tinted clouds,
bearing witness to the presence of the sun. All around me was rain and gloominess,
but in the sky, I could see hope. Hope in the shape of a diamond, pure and clear and and beautiful.
And as I drove further, I could see the city glow softly in the sun,
the moisture-laden air giving the light an inviting feeling.
And then, I entered the realm of the light.
The rain ceased. The clouds were still all around me, hovering.
But above, blue. And the sun.

Threads of gold, falling silver

James HoganLeave a comment

Alright y’all, wasn’t originally planning to write an entry today…but why not? It’s a lovely Sunday afternoon and I am dutifully(and by dutifully I mean JOYFULLY!) resting in Starbucks sipping my peppermint mocha. I want to write something…so yeah. We’ll see what I’m feeling…



For a trumpet’s song,
for a banner’s call
we’d give our fortunes,
we’d forfeit our all.

For a twice-sold birthright,
a third-born son,
we’d shake with laughter
until summer’s done.

For a sweet-tongued lass,
adorned in lace,
we’d divide our portion,
forget our face.

Merry we make, peace we buy
Dregs we drink, life we cry!

Falling upon the swords of our fathers
and born upon the waves of our daughters
we bless the cries of our heart
we curse the tears of our soul
and we fail to realize
we are already dead.

Cloaked in justice,
robed in love
bearing truth and
gifting peace
wielding a rod
of iron
and double edged
sword
in the crown
of a king
in the raiment
of a lord
with eyes of flame
and upon
the face
a tear.

And
we sneer.

Destiny is to be grasped,
and fate is to be sown
our hearts and our souls
our lives, our own!

The goblet full,
the land groans,
the pot a boil,
and we drink.

Don’t have time to tighten it up…enjoy?

apple orchards

James HoganLeave a comment

I really want an apple pie right now. All hot and delicious and full of apple slices drenched in sugary goodness in a nice delicious crust…along with a cold glass of milk. Yes? Yes. Made by dad(the filling) and mom(the crust), specifically. Of course, this is now sadly impossible as they are thousands of miles away. Well maybe come Christmas time, this will be remedied. Until then, I will just have to dream…

And now that my craving for apple pie has increased exponentially after writing that, I will try to switch topics gracefully…by saying that it is a beautiful day here!! I am very happy that despite a week of mostly rain and wind and cold gloominess, Aberdeen has decided to reward us with a gorgeously sunny and refreshing Saturday! And of course, anthropomorphizing Aberdeen is foolish…I really want to thank God, for this is indeed the day that He has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!!

And this has been a delightfully busy and hectic week! This week I think I’ve become fully immersed in my new job, as I had no lack of tasks to complete, from compiling quoting process maps to engaging the rest of the staff to form a comprehensive picture of affairs here. We have a consultant coming over from the States next week, so we’ve been prepping for that this week, as next week should be even crazier! But then, do you really want to hear about Cameron Drilling affairs? Probably not, so I’ll refrain.

But last night was not business, but pleasure! A couple from church invited me to their place for dinner last night, so me and my roommate went over(rewind – did I mention I now have a flatmate? He’s from Nigeria, and this is his first time out of the country! So it is most fun to use my lofty status as three-week resident of Scotland to show him around the city and introduce him to our crazy Western ways; he’s pretty awesome) – we left straight from work and through the driving rain and terrible traffic(Houston-esque, almost) I drove(wait, rewind again – did I also mention that Cameron hired me a car? Well they did – a Nissan Note – and so yesterday was my first day driving through Aberdeen! In the rain. And traffic. On the other side of the road. I’m still here!) to their house right near the University of Aberdeen. And wow, that was…an interesting sentence. Anyways, Josh and Emily have a lovely family(daughter Rebecca, son Luke) and they made taco salad for us! They’re actually from Texas(what!) and he’s here getting his doctorate in theology, particularly in regards to the doctrine of the Trinity and the view of the Trinity throughout church history and how that has been changing the past 200 years. Oh yeah, we got a little theologically nerdy. Anyways, it was simply an amazingly awesome night hanging out with them and relaxing and communing in the goodness of the Lord!! Afterwards me and Uche(my flatmate) drove back through the considerably more empty roads to our flat. Following that we had an ASDAs adventure to get him a phone so he could call his family(which he did – success!) and I called back home and got to talk to Laura for the first time in a while – hurrah! Finally, we made it home and sleep beckoned…I woke up this morning to hear Uche vacuuming our flat – see, I told you he’s awesome!

Ok, while I’ve been writing this, me and this woman two tables over from me(here at Starbucks) keep making eye contact. I’m not sure if she’s just intrigued at my furious tapping away or what.

ANYWAYS, I really need to get going soon, as later this afternoon is castle time! But a little sidetour first…

This morning I was walking to Starbucks enjoying the beautiful morning when a woman stopped me(old enough to be my grandmother, if not my great-grandmother!) holding out a tract, saying something about “the future kingdom”. I’m thinking, “Oh, she must be a Christian, yay!” So I mention that I follow Christ. She sort of brushes that off, which I find only a tad odd, and then ask me if I’m waiting for the coming kingdom. I enthusiastically agree and at this point she points me to a verse somewhere in John about Jesus pointing the way to God. John 3:17 maybe? Anyways, I make a remark affirming that, saying also, “And Jesus is God!” at which point she says, “Well, no, he isn’t…”

screeching halt

I had to drastically revise my approach at this point from friendly encourager to wary combatant. I responded to her heretical statement by saying, “Actually, He is God.” At which point we got into a nice little debate, with her pulling out what I assume are all the classic Jesus-is-not-God passages, starting with Colossians(why is it telling me Colossians is spelled wrong – hmph) 1. I think when I rebutted this by telling her what firstborn meant in the Greek, she may have begun to re-evaluate her opinion of me as a soft target. Anyways, I’m not going to recount our whole conversation except that I urged her to read John, as the whole purpose of that testimony is to put forth Jesus as God!! She denied that with some silly out-of-context verses, tried to reproach me on the illogical nature of the Trinity(1+1+1 can’t equal 1!) and eventually we parted ways. I think I would put our mini-debate as a draw, simply because neither of us were even slightly budging and I failed to pull out the ace verse of John 1:1. Oh why oh why did I not remember that until ten minutes later???

Anyways, the point of this whole recount isn’t to prove my theological acuity, because most assuredly, I felt like I was stumbling around….any good words I did say were of the Spirit. But I just wanted to express my sadness over her words and my acute anger at her denial of Jesus’ very divine nature as God Himself. I think this cut me the deepest, that someone would deny Christ as God, and then I think of all those every day who deny Christ. And I weep. And then I think of my own denials of Christ every day, even though I know Him!! And I weep bitterly. Oh for the lost ones of this world! I cannot wait for the day when faith truly shall be sight and He comes on the clouds for every eye to see Him. Every heart will be pierced and all will know Jesus as Lord. King of kings and Lord of Lords is His name. Amen and Amen!! Come Lord Jesus!

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 came
into being through Him, and apart from
Him nothing came into being that has
come into being. In Him was life, and
the life was the Light of men. The
Light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it.

Some of the most beautiful words ever penned. Bar none.

Grace and peace be with y’all this most glorious day!