Month: May 2011

Prepare your mind for action

James HoganLeave a comment

So this morning is going to be interesting. Month-end shipments are upon us here at Cameron Aberdeen and everyone that knows how to close out invoices and ship equipment is either on holiday or in Houston on business…leaving the rest of us running around maniacally and me attempting to ensure everything that should be shipped out is shipped out. Cut-off for the end of the month is today at noon, so at 12:01 today, sighs will be heard all around.

O love the LORD, all you his godly ones!
The LORD preserves the faithful
and fully recompenses the proud doer.
Be strong and let your heart take courage,
all you who hope in the LORD.
-Psalm 31:23-24

And now, boys and girls…it’s go time.

24

James HoganLeave a comment

So this will be a short update, for two reasons – firstly, it’s a Saturday morning, which means it’s bacon and coffee and reading time!! And secondly, because it is just gorgeous outside, and so I just can’t spend too much time inside today!! And also, I am not quite in a writing mood, but I wanted to write at least a little bit following my 24th birthday the other day!! And yes, I am now 24. What!! It is a bit odd to think that three years ago, I turned 21 as I finished up my junior year at UF, looking forward to my internship with Cameron… And now, just three years later, I’ve graduated, spent a year in Houston, and now almost a year in Scotland. Um, did I expect this? Yeah, I can safely respond ‘No’ to that. Indeed, man does plan his ways but the Lord directs his steps!! How true that is! And so I’ve lived twenty-four years of my life, and I can’t but praise God for every second of those years! King of kings and Lord of lords, He cares for me. God of the universe, He holds me tight. Messiah of this fallen world, He loves me! And so, I love Him!!!

And as my thoughts attempt to run away with themselves, I will end this before my ebullience rises to new heights.

But briefly – yes, even celebrating my birthday in Scotland(first time in a foreign country!), I had a simply magnificent day…from celebrating in the office with a double-chocolate cake(courtesy of the awesomeness of Mark Neish) to walking up to church in the gloriously sunlit and breezy afternoon to basking in the wonders of the mercies of God at bible study to chilling with dearest Steven and Anna as we watched PotC4(complete with ANOTHER chocolate cake…yeah, my friends know me too well!!) to strolling along Union Street with them and thanking my Father for friends such as them to walking home and talking to Mom and Laura and Maryanne and loving hearing their voices even as they are millions of miles away…yes, I am supremely blessed.

Life Eternal

James HoganLeave a comment

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived,
enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life
in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

But when the kindess of God our Saviour appeared,
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.

-Titus 3:3-7

Dreaming in Htown

James HoganLeave a comment

So a hot shower is pretty much the best thing ever. *Especially* after a 10+ hour plane trip. Ahh, may I never take such luxuries for granted!!

And yes, I am back in Houston at the moment, why do you ask?? Sitting here looking outside my 15th floor hotel room at I-10 gracefully(if you can call concrete pillars and ten lane highways “graceful”) sweeping under Beltway 8. And it’s good to be back, even if it is only briefly. I can’t believe I’ve been gone eight months! What!!?!

And now I’m sleepy…and while it may be not-yet-six here in Houston, it is definitely midnight in Scotland. And I’m feeling it. But Alex will be here soon to pick me up for dinner and I shall be rejuvenated by sweet fellowship and lovely conversation…

Maybe I shall take a ten minute nap now. Yes. That sounds good.

Truth, justice, and the American way

James HoganLeave a comment

About to start work this fine(and by fine, I mean BEAUTIFUL) Aberdeen day, but just wanted to post briefly(since I don’t have time for anything else!). Have a rather nasty headache this morning(ughhh, the side effects of the Fall…I’m blaming you, serpent!! …I mean…) but I did rather enjoy my four-day weekend. Royal wedding + stupendous Saturday/Sunday + bank holiday = Awesomeness!! Rounded off beautifully by seeing Steven again last night after his holiday back in Germany and knocking out three episodes of the Unit(along with frozen pizza goodness, of course!). And this week is about to get interesting, as work is crazy busy(hello Transocean project!)…AND I’m about to travel to Houston next week for job interviews. Pray for me. Oh I need wisdom!!

And since it’s now time for work, one more note…almost ten years after the events of 9/11/2001…Osama Bin Laden was found and killed this past weekend by an American spec-ops team. I’d like to write a bit more on my thoughts on this, but for now, I praise the Lord. I rejoice that our God is sovereign over all things and I exult in His righteous judgment. Our justice may be blind, but His is all-seeing and ever-knowing and always righteous. Our justice may be flawed and incomplete and marred by our own desires for revenge, but His is perfect and complete, coming from the only One who can claim vengeance. And so while I weep for sorrow at the wanton rebellion of this world and the righteous wrath past due, I say something that is never easy for me, as a sinful man, to say: “I rejoice in the justice of the Lord our God!!!”