Morning all! It’s a little pre-work post here and I really only have a minute or two so you all shall be spared a long rambling post. Wanted to shout out the gorgeous mid-March weather which after today will be pretty much non-existent until some eight months from now. 40 degrees this morning? Yes please and thank you. I with great glee put on my cosy black turtleneck and my good black wool coat and feel all properly attired for this last reminder of winter’s presence. I am thankful for the little things, like walking out my front door and feeling the cool air on my face and breathing deep and reminding myself that these small beautiful moments are but a taste of what is to come. This is an office day and so I had a nice drive here listening to a sermon and meditating on the mercies of God especially to such a feeble one as I. Thinking on the story of David and Nabal and Abigail and the mercy of God toward David in drawing him away from his wicked inclination toward vengeance and directing him toward the path of mercy and the beautiful picture of Christ present in Abigail and her valiant deeds and discretion in placing herself between wrath and its deserving object. Oh how wonderful it is to spend a few moments now thinking on the person of Jesus and pondering his staggeringly vast and beautiful love for me.
Tag: cold
Sounds of the Harpischord
Happy Friday, friends!! A bare minute of writing will I allow myself before I’m off once again. A nice chill morning today and so I felt more than justified in wearing a warm sweater(blue & green striped one that Julie helped me pick out a few months back! Yes, Julie is awesome). And as I drove in to work, was much fortified by my music…for this year I’m once again not going to make it to a performance of Handel’s Messiah but no matter…because I can have a mini concert in my car!! So today got to listen to most of the second half of the Messiah – such gloriously beautiful music. Now – time to work a little as I enjoy my peppermint mocha. Peace and love, dear friends.
Dawn Beckons
A wonderfully cold morning. Oh how much I relish this winter season! I walked outside my door this morning into the chill air, delightedly seeing my breath steam strong through the dark of early morning. As I drove down the interstate, listened to one of my more recent mixes, one I heartily enjoy – Clarissa. Have I posted that tracklist yet? Probably not – I fear I am dreadfully behind! I’ll share at some point. Now at my office, soon to start work. But first, enjoying a cup of hot honey-sweetened coffee as my thoughts wander and roam.
Jasmine at the Door
Quick update. Enjoying a nice breakfast of sausages and honey-sweetened coffee. Also (still!) enjoying this wonderfully cold weather here in Houston. And…now I shall prepare for one last furiously frantic day of work. Then…Florida time.
A Foretaste of Things to Come
Guess what? It’s the coldest day thus far this season and it is beautiful. 40 degrees outside…and I love it. Got to wear my black wool coat to work for the first time in ages. This cold weather is just blissful. Long may it continue. Also today, apart from the usual work nonsense, we have our office Thanksgiving lunch! As I walked in the building, saw the whole lobby/break room area full of tables and chairs for our upcoming feast. Hurrah! Yes, I will have to eat semi-quickly since I have a Transocean meeting (AT Transocean) at 1pm that I will have to depart for, but still. Thanksgiving feasts are never to be taken for granted. And speaking of such…tonight, Becky and Mary Beth are hosting a Thanksgiving potluck at their apartment! I will attempt to make an apple pie to bring to that – we shall see how it turns out. I’m excited for a relaxing night of yummy food and fun conversation with good friends.
Now quickly before I begin the work tasks of the day…a couple words on my reading this morning. Firstly, sobering words from 2 Chronicles 12. We start with King Rehoboam (the son of Solomon), who seemed to be doing ok in earlier chapters. Yes, he’d made some mistakes, but it seems the people of the land were genuinely seeking after God, to obey and honour Him. But what do we see in the first verse of chapter 12? “When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord.” Oh. Well then. Is that something we need to beware of in our own lives? As much as we know and are confident that our Lord God will surely complete His work in us – He shall never forsake us – pride is not yet dead in us, is it? When we are in a good place, when we are ‘established and strong’, is it not tempting to slack off and rest in our own accomplishments? When you stand, take heed – lest you fall. Ever be seeking the Lord in your life, during the full years as well as the lean years. Ever be humbling yourself before the Lord…because if not, you shall be humbled. As in this passage, when God uses King Shisak of Egypt (with armies innumerable) to conquer throughout the land and humble the people. And so eventually Rehoboam and the people of Judah do humble themselves…and God has mercy and compassion yet He still proclaims that “they will become his slaves so that they will learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.’ Let us crave that we may be in service to the Lord, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The yoke of other gods is not near so fun as we may like to think.
And secondly? A couple verses in James 5. He’s speaking to Christians that are apparently weary from suffering and impatient for the return of Christ. James has been giving them many comforting words (as well as severe exhortations!), and now He’s going to continue to comfort them with examples of God’s compassion and mercy. What example does he choose? Verse 10 – “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” Hm. I have to say, if I was looking for an encouraging example of God’s mercy…I would probably not be happy with the example of Job. Wait, God – I don’t want that. Job went through terrible things! He lost everything – possessions, children, health! The only things he didn’t lose was his blaspheming wife and his depressing friends. You’re saying that I should look to Job and be encouraged at God’s mercy? I don’t want that mercy! I want no part of the book of Job, nope. But now – look at the key phrase in this verse, you “have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings…” We may not partake in sufferings as severe as Job’s. I pray that you do not. But you know what, we may. And even if our sufferings aren’t quite as bad as all that, we still suffer, do we not? We still have physical pains, mental anguish and emotional turmoil that plague us. But we cannot focus on that. To focus and fix our minds on ourselves rob us of the joy that comes at looking to Christ and recognizing that we have a higher hope, that God indeed causes all things to work together for good for those that love Him. And so the end of all things will indeed show the mercy and lovingkindness of the Lord – when we are with Christ forever. We may suffer now. But not forever. The outcome of the Lord’s dealings with us? Life eternal. And even in this life, we see the blessings of the Lord. See and be thankful and praise the Lord for every small mercy that our Lord grants us in this life. All praises to Him, now and forever. Our Lord is full of compassion and oh so merciful. May the knowledge of that glorious truth warm our hearts this day.
Art Deco
It is a most glorious day. This morning – finally! – is sitting at sub-60 temperature and it is drippy and wet and slightly cold and it is beautiful. I forget how much I love the “winter” (quotation marks most definitely required) here in Houston. And it is here at long last! So now I get to enjoy my hot coffee inside after having walked in from the (marginally) cold outside and I am happy. Another reason for happiness – I got quite a good long reading time this morning…woke up (reasonably) on time and thus was able to luxuriate in reading through sections of Psalm 119, some Proverbs, 1 Kings 19-20(1 Kings 19 – will always be one of my very favourites after preaching through it in Scotland…oh how encouraging are those words! God indeed takes care of our needs and encourages us with his presence and reminds us of the truths we ought to know…and gives us good works to do. May I remember that this day) and then finally Galatians (yes, I had time to read all of it – which truly is necessary as Galatians is such a lovely book and needs to be read straight through!). So I am ever more aware of how truly blessed I am. Might I constantly be reminded today of how I ought not boast in anything else other than the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Always.
new Sun Rising
Happy Monday friends!! It is a lovely cold morning(below 40 for what is most likely the last time this year!) so yes I enjoyed it to the uttermost…almost as much as I’m enjoying on my peppermint mocha now(I must confess I had a brief dalliance with the new cherry mocha yesterday…for all its bright allure, it was most definitely not worth it. I am ashamed for even thinking of abandoning stalwart peppermint. Never again). I’m also a bit sleepy, as last night went to Rockets game to celebrate Danielle’s birthday! Angela and others of Danielle’s friends were there and good times were had by all. Oh and yeah Rockets beat Mavs(of course). Houston triumphant! Anyways – today shines bright another day and I must simply be thankful knowing it is the day the Lord has made – let us rejoice and be glad in it, yeah? Peace, my friends – peace and love.
Apples and Cinnamon
So today will be an interesting day. The weather conditions are advertised as being a “wintry mix”, which when hearing that – sounds delightfully pleasant right? Wintry mix sounds to me like maybe a peppermint tea or exotic hot cocoa or something delicious that can be sipped while cosy at home during the depths of winter. But no – this wintry mix is much more annoying – namely, very cold(probably sub-freezing) temperatures and various forms of precipitation. Yay? Driving here this morning, all the signs proclaimed: “ICE PREVENTION OPERATIONS AHEAD”. At least Houston is trying, am I right!? My one shoutout of the day goes to the woman I saw on her morning run as I drove to work. 5:45AM, 37 degrees and slight rain. And she still went on her run. I shake my head in admiration and shame – never am I that dedicated!!
But apart from the weather forecast, right now I’m enjoying my coffee here at work as I continue to wake up. Thankfully I’m less sleepy than I was yesterday! Totally slept through my alarm so had no time for breakfast or coffee…and why did I sleep in yesterday? Well, the night before that was Julian and Kelsey’s wedding – and oh what a gorgeous wedding it was!! I shan’t describe it all here…but their wedding was God glorifying – a simply beautiful ceremony of them affirming their marriage covenant to one another before God Himself. And I must briefly mention the beauty of the venue itself – outdoors surrounded by the mid-winter Texas countryside. As I stood by Julian’s side and gazed out at the setting sun, brisk air enlivening(and slightly shiver-inducing!) and fading light spirit invigorating…I had no thoughts but to thank God for blessing Julian and Kelsey so – for giving each of them to the other as partners in this beautiful, crazy, wonderful life. All praises to the One from whom all blessings flow. Amen.
What else can I write before it is work time? Well I suppose I should start on my pledge for this year. I typically enjoy reading very much(as you should know, if you know me at all), but I am very poor in recording what I’ve read. So I’ve decided this year to keep track of each book I read. Even re-reads(because yes, I do re-read quite a bit – and I don’t want to miss the chance to highlight good books, just because they’re not first reads). This is a slightly perilous resolution, for several reasons. Firstly, because I’m typically terrible at keeping on something like this, so I must be diligent at recording these, even if I have no time to write any fancy reviews. Secondly, because…this means my reading tastes will be exposed for the whole world to see – will be a good impetus to (try to) read quality books! For now though..here goes. I will record the books as I finish them, so here’s my first two, which coincidentally or not I completed last night.
1. Authority by D.M. Lloyd-Jones. This was a remarkably short book, less than 100 pages! But I much enjoyed this adaptation of several of Lloyd-Jones sermons he gave on the subject of authority, namely – the authority of Christ, the authority of the Scripture and the authority of the Holy Spirit. I much enjoyed this book(as I enjoy almost all of Lloyd-Jones’ writings!) and it encouraged my soul. Oh how we should more often remember that our faith does not come from within us and is not founded on the shifting sands of our moods or the ever changing tides of the wisdom of this world…but our faith is in Christ Himself, as revealed through the external witness of the Holy Scriptures and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. Oh might we rejoice in this thought and take heart. Too easily do I get discouraged by my circumstances and by the trials and tribulations I find myself in. Let me more oft consider the God whose son I am.
2. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. This is the complete antithesis of the previous book. Definitely not a short book – I don’t know the exact page count, but easily over 800 pages I would think. A classic high fantasy novel. Sanderson is truly one of my favorite authors and I think I own a higher percentage of his books than almost any other author. I’ve also met him a few times, which adds to my liking for him. His writing style is definitely not quite as beautiful as a Tolkien or a Rothfuss, but his world-building and action sequences are almost unparalleled. This book is the third book in his magnum opus Stormlight Archive series and so I shan’t attempt to summarize the plot here, but I much enjoyed this book and will be definitely revisiting it in later re-reads. I’m just sad I’ll have to wait a couple more years for the next book to come out…alas!
So there you have it – the first two books completed for 2018. Already begun another one, will record when finished!
Have a most lovely day, dear friends – may it be a day of joy and peace.
A slow Realisation
Oh what a wonderfully cold morning!! Now I sit nice and cosy at my desk, but previously walking outside feeling the brisk wind whip around me as I clung to my steaming peppermint mocha, feeding off the warmth therein…lovely. I certainly am not complaining about this cold – long may it continue! Also this morning I was listening to music as I drove in…probably my best mix, the tragic fall and most surprising Redemption of anakin skywalker. I always forget what a beautiful mix of songs of it is…a perfect storm of beauty in music. It is also almost certainly the best musical representation I’ve yet put together of a man’s(or woman’s!) journey from darkness to light, culminating in the joy that can only be found by knowing Jesus Christ. It’s been a gorgeous morning and for that I thank my God. Happy Friday, dear friends.
Second Sun
Happy Tuesday, friends! My first day back at work…and while my mind is still sleepy, I am somehow (!?) a bit eager to get back into the swing of things and especially see all my work friends again! This morning was nice and cold here – apparently the cold air is following me around lately! 31 degrees when I got into my car…so lovely(and yes, I mean that sincerely!). Of course, also got my traditional first-day-of-work-week peppermint mocha(and saw Katie for first time in a while – had a nice little chat despite my sleepy state!). Now, as I’m sensing this entry is a bit disjointed and raw…I shall flee to my email inbox and attempt to catch up on all things work. Have a most gorgeous day, dear friends.
