Month: December 2010

The eye of the sea

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Mmmm…sipping some perfectly lovely mint-chocolate tea right now and feeling slightly sleepy, but I couldn’t resist writing a few words(and since I’m hearing my bed call my name, it will indeed be only a few!). Today, returned to Aberdeen after a totally awesome week in Florida!! I wish I had the time to truly do it justice, but alas for my tired state(flew from Tampa to Detroit to Amsterdam to Aberdeen last night and so didn’t quite get much sleep). Truly though, just let me say one thing(actually no, two things): firstly, I have pretty much the best family in the world. Secondly, God is awesome.

And while one week isn’t really the ideal length of time to spend at home…we made the most of the time, what with continuing our annual Mini-Golf Tournament of Champions tradition and eating like royalty(roast turkey, potatoes, stuffing, asparagus, fettucine alfredo, shrimp, lots of salad, chicken parmigiana, chocolate sheet cake…just the tip of the iceberg) and playing cards and ping-pong (which got stylishly interfered with by our resident kitten troublemakers, Caroline and Julia) and relaxing in the joy of each other’s company and watching Jack Bauer dominate it up in a ’24’ marathon(Season 3 – but we didn’t get to the finale before I left ahhhh!!!) and singing together and staying up late talking about random things with the sisters and making known the goodness of the Lord and going out to lunch far too much(TGI Friday’s with Mom, Panera with Katharyn, TGI Friday’s with Laura, Chili’s with Maryanne, Five Guys with Dad…yes, I told you I ate bad. Shh, no telling. But it was so worth it just to get the time to talk with everyone..) and catching up with friends(and seeing friends’ new baby – Gloria!! David and Dream, y’all are indeed most blessed of our Father!) and oh I just don’t know how to properly convey the joy of the blessings of the Lord which He has bestowed on me and my family! And while my prayers for them will not lessen as the distance between us increases, may my love for them increase all the more! And all of you that aren’t my family, don’t worry, I love you too. Always.

And as for me, it is not that late, but I fear my wits are fleeing me, begging me to rest my eyes and drift away to the land of my dreams before I pour out my whole mind like a waterfall into the deep… First though, I will finish my tea.

Merry Christmas!

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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.
…And the Word became flesh, and
dwelt among us, and we saw His
glory, glory as of the only begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truth.
-John 1:1-5,14

Oh wondrous words!!! I couldn’t think of any words more fitting for remembering the birth of Christ our Lord and Savior than these. Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased! Remember the birth of the King!!

Glory

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My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!
Awake, my glory!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will give thanks to You, O
Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among
the nations.
For Your lovingkindness is great
to the heavens
And Your truth to the clouds.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
-Psalm 57:7-11

Raging starfire

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So, at work a bit early this morning…despite the continued onslaught of snow against my fair city of Aberdeen! I woke up this morning and looked outside to see that not too much snow had fallen during the night. Relieved, I went to make my coffee and sandwiches and then sat down and read for a while. Before I left my flat, I looked outside again…to see it snowing furiously outside, with an additional few inches of snow on the ground!! Knowing that every second I delayed inside would mean more snow on the roads, I hurried outside to my car, quickly warming it up and scraping it off before undertaking the treacherous six mile journey in to work(which took an hour last night, ugh). You may ask why I’d drive to work in the snow, with a very reasonable probability of not being able to get back home tonight? Well honestly, I don’t know either. But driving convoy style on the dual carriageway(er, that’d be highway for us Americans), we all made it through the snow safely, each of us following through the tire tracks of the car before. And by the way, Rhapsody of Fire is pretty much the most intensely awesome music to listen to while driving through the snow, just saying. “The embrace of ice and snow could stop the bravest warrior, but the thirst for justice still and more will warm our soul.” What now?!! Finally made it in to work just to find that the lights were off in our Drilling office…yes, I was the first one in. That did give me just a bit of pride at first, being the Floridian and all in the land of Scotland, before I realized it might just mean that I was the only one silly enough daring to brave the snow. I’ve sat here for a while now, sipping my hazelnut-tinged coffee(props to Deanna for bringing over wondrous proper American coffee creamer from the States!!! You will be my bestest friend forever and ever for that, Deanna. Mmmmmm…and now you all know the way to my heart. Oops) and writing this snow filled entry.

And now, there are actually people in the office besides me and it’s about time for work to begin. Have a lovely day!! Hopefully there’s far less snow wherever you all are at..

Oh and I really will end this entry after this sentence, but Romans 8 is awesome, y’all; you should read it right now, that’s how awesome it is(I have been abundantly reminded of the glorious love of God our Father and of Jesus Christ our Saviour and of the Spirit our Comforter these past few days through this chapter) and I would be negligent indeed to not point you all to such an amazing wealth of words and storehouse of grace and fountain of truth that is contained therein.

All we, like sheep

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Lunch time here at work! Actually, it’s about over but thought I’d post a quick update, seeing as this last week has been most full of awesomeness! Hopefully I’ll get around to a longer post later detailling my adventures with Deanna throughout Scotland(and yes, it was an amazing few days!!) but for now, suffice it to say that…yeah, Scotland’s a pretty beautiful country. It’s true.

And last night, went with Rosemary to see Handel’s Messiah at the Music Hall here in Aberdeen – my first time ever seeing this performed! Listening to it on my laptop is most definitely not the same thing. So amazingly lovely and gorgeous and our-Lord-glorifying and beautiful and powerful and majestic. And He shall reign forever and ever! My only regret…that I couldn’t sing with them! Ahh, one day. One day.

And now it’s time to get back to work, but know this: tonight will be my first night to myself in quite some time, so I will most definitely enjoy the time to relax and read and SLEEP. Oh the sleep will be welcome! I may or may not have a satisfying dinner of delicious hamburgers, baked potatoes and crispy green beans too. Mmmm. If I don’t fall asleep first.

Have a simply lovely day, y’all! Love you guys!!

Across the ocean

James HoganLeave a comment

Alright, I was going to post a long, EPIC entry, but alas, I took too long eating lunch and now lunch is about over and I need to work. But I still must at least write something! Hopefully the quality makes up for the quantity. Actually, it probably won’t, but shh. And now that I’m done talking about why I’m not writing more(and thus wasting precious time that I could have written a longer entry!), I shall just say a few words…

Firstly, Deanna is in town! What!!! Yes, you heard that right – Deanna’s in Aberdeen as of last night and that is just so much awesome, y’all. She’s staying with a family here in the church(Eleanor’s parents) currently and today she’s recovering from her flight adventure yesterday(which included a 4 hour “visit” with immigration officials. Ugh) and exploring around Aberdeen while I work. But tonight, going to go downtown and celebrate Rosemary’s birthday(hurrah!!) and then tomorrow, we go up to Inverness! As long as we don’t get blizzard-ed in the face, that is. We’ll spend a night in Inverness(of course exploring Loch Ness while we’re at it) and then taking the train down to Edinburgh on Friday(again, God willing) and spending a couple days there! It shall be sweet and epic and awesome and fantastically fabulous and perfectly lovely, I so declare.

Of course, I’m also a little exhuasted right now, because while I told myself ahead of time I’d get lots of sleep over the weekend in preparation for impending Deanna-visit, did I? Of course not. Instead I had a gorgeous weekend hanging out with people and enjoying amazingly encouraging and refreshing times at church and shopping(the worst part of the weekend!) and seeing random movies and staying up FAR too late every night and not getting any sleep at all(most of this is your fault, Aiysha!). But…what do I always say? Sleep is unnecessary.

And now it’s work time(for the last time until next Monday!) and then it’s epic Scotland with Deanna Adventure time! Peace out, y’all!!

Snowglobe

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I don’t quite know why I’m posting twice in one day, but it is lunchtime and I’m enjoying a nice lunch of cheese sandwiches and chips(that’s fries to you people back home!). Nice hot chips with salt and vinegar, mmm…

Ok, maybe that’s the purpose of my post, to make you all hungry. Because I don’t really have anything else to say…other than that it is STILL SNOWING. It looks like a violently shaken snowglobe outside. At this rate, we’ll be buried by Christmas. Of course, I’ll in Florida for Christmas(hurrah!!) where it’s nice and warm and sunny. Yes. The only good thing about the snow is that I’ve not yet gotten stuck again like my adventure on Saturday night…and that it’s not really that cold yet. Only about 5 below(23 degrees or so, for all you back home).

And now, I think I will enjoy the rest of my lunch before my chips go cold. To everyone now waking up in the States, g’morning! Have an absolutely lovely day!!

Royal blue

James HoganLeave a comment

Well, at work early on a Thursday morning – I’m the first one in, and so before work begins, enjoying a bit of coffee and warming up after being out in the snowy cold!

And as I drove in this morning, rolling behind the cautiously glowing red lights of the cars before me that beckoned me on in a slow dance with the icy roads, I looked up and saw the piercing sickle of the moon shine bright against the inky blue sky and above the silent witness stood the proud morning star, a jewel in the heavens and knowing well that it stood alone of all the stars in majesty this day. And as the sky slowly began to bleed light, the clouds shot through with glory, I sighed with pleasure at the beauty of the skies, the creation of the Almighty that is but a pale reflection of the magnificence I will one day witness in His presence. All glory to the Lord of hosts. All glory to the Lamb that was slain! All glory to our God!!