Month: March 2018

Never Again Sighs the Dawn

James HoganLeave a comment

Monday morning here…hello friends!!  A quick few words.

Firstly…this is my 900th post here on livejournal.  I suppose that’s not too momentous and really only matters to me, but I wanted to make it known.  When will I get to 1000 I wonder…

Secondly…another book I need to log – even though I feel it’s cheating a bit since I really read most of it last year and then stopped reading it for about…9 months!?  Finally picked it up the other night and finished the last few chapters.

7. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.  Maryanne gave me this for Christmas of 2016 I believe, so quite a ways back now!  I do so love biographies even though I typically focus on Christian ones.  This was still quite good – got such a good glimpse into the historical details of the Revolutionary War period – and finding out more about Hamilton was indeed so fascinating!!  Of course this book has now become super popularized because of the musical(which YES is amazing if you haven’t heard it yet!!), but the book deserves praise on its own merit.  An extremely fun and easy read – I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes history and reading about interesting individuals.  (And no excuses for me taking over a year to actually read this)

Thirdly…last night I went to bed far later than I should have.  Two reasons for this.  I for some reason felt in the mood to throw together a playlist of a lot of my most recent songs I’ve acquired(via John or my random youtube listening)…and then I realized I actually had enough for another CD and so I put them on a playlist and had to listen through to see what stuck.  While I was doing that…I started my next book – a re-read of a series that will probably take a while but it is one of my very very favourites.  The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.  I forgot how good this book is.  I got sucked into the world of Rand al’Thor and the village of Emond’s Field…and before I knew it, I had enjoyed listening to a fantastic playlist(CD of which now sits in my car!  It might be terrible though because it’s been vetted much less thoroughly than I usually do…) and read far too many chapters of EotW.  Ah well.  It was a pleasant Sunday night…I could have done far worse than had a night reading a good book while listening to lovely music…

Fourthly…I am consequently very sleepy today.  All hail peppermint mocha and much espresso therein!

Peace and love.

A New Hope

James HoganLeave a comment

“It will come about in that day that I will respond,”
declares the Lord.
“I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth,
and the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil
and they will respond to Jezreel.
I will sow her for Myself in the land.
I will also have compassion on
her who had not obtained compassion,
and I will say to those who were not My people,
‘You are my people!’
and they will say,
‘You are my God!'”

-Hosea 2:21-23

Your Palms

James HoganLeave a comment

Happy Friday friends!!  Quick few words before work begins.  (Wanted to write more but sadly time does not allow!)  Firstly, need to log my latest read…(which you’ll probably not be surprised at if you’ve read any of my entries lately)

6.  The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  This book is one of my very favourites.  And I typically like to re-read every few years…but this past re-read was after a little longer gap than most, mainly because of my nostalgia for the last re-read, which was in Aberdeen(in which this was my “garden read” whenever it was sunny outside!)  So although I wanted to hold onto that Scotland memory, I could eventually wait no longer and started this book anew in the latter part of last year.  Every time I read it, I do kind of wonder if I’m going to still have the same love for it…and every time I am reminded of my why I love it so.  A book that is gorgeous and full of pathos and hits me in the inner parts of my soul.  If I could write half as well(nay, a quarter!) as Tolkien, I would be thrilled.  Alas!  But reading this again, new passages continue to thrill me and I fall in love with Middle Earth and all my favourite characters all over again.  I must confess, I didn’t read the appendices, but I don’t think I have to read those to count this book as read, right??  (Although – I did read a little bit of one appendix…after finishing the last chapter last night, I read the story of Aragorn and Arwen Undómiel.  What love!)  So I have written many words but little substance, so to conclude this I will just say that this book remains unparalleled amongst fiction – so beautifully does it rhyme with my soul and present glimpses of that more perfect Truth.

And now – the sand runs swift through the glass, yet I will press on a bit longer.  Today I was blessed with a special gift…waking up extra early and actually being able to stay awake long enough to enjoy a gorgeously long coffee and reading morning.  Fresh-ground coffee and wonderful words to be read and a few special moments with my God.  What can compare?  So I had over an hour to read and so I got to read a bit of David Brainerd’s diary, then Psalms 9-10, Proverbs 2 and Daniel 10-12(gorgeous chapters…love what Daniel is told at the end…terrible paraphrase: “Keep on keeping on…until you die and then someday at the end of all things you will rise anew – gloriously, wondrously!”  Oh that I were a man who might also be called “one who is greatly esteemed” by my Lord) and also Romans 8.  Sometimes I struggle to make it all the way through Romans 8…but today I had the time to luxuriously read through the entire chapter.  Still – that first verse was almost too much for me and I can still barely grasp its magnitude –Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Bliss.  And…who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Might my heart always burn so hotly for the love of my Lord.