Tag: concert

Ulysses

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For this past week I have been working to find the time and space to write a few words on the concert I was at last week, yet I couldn’t summon up the time and appropriate energy to do it justice. I fear I still will not be able to, yet I don’t want to wait any longer lest my memory begin to dim! I haven’t been to as many concerts this year as in years past, which I suppose makes sense as my time and appetite for such have diminished as I refocus my energies elsewhere. Sometimes this saddens me a bit, but then I consider all the concerts I’ve been to that really are not all that worth it. Well, this past Sunday? I went to a show that reminded me why I love live music and why going to the right show is 1000% worth it. Josh Garrels, hello.

I have been listening to songs by Josh Garrels for close to ten or eleven years now, I believe? Shoutout to Daniel from back in the Bethel days, for introducing me to whom I now believe is one of the greatest and most encouraging artists of our generation. Even back in 2014-2015, I remember listening to some of his songs and feeling the tears fill my eyes as I consider what it means to be a son of God and to be welcome at His table. Being loved and welcomed by God is a theme that is fairly pounded home in many of his songs but not in a way that feels forced or unwarranted by the stories woven throughout Josh Garrels’ discography. Even these past few years, though not much new songs of his have been released, the songs he has released (Anchor of my Soul & Watchman in particular!) have been received by me with much joy as they’ve aided in my ever seeking to know Christ more and press into this abundant life that we have been welcomed into. So! That all to say I was excited to see him in concert, but also not really sure what to expect. I went alone and figured it would be encouraging (partly why Dani said I needed to go, once I told her I knew it would be an encouraging night for me!). So go I did. Met a few people before the show and had some good conversation. Then I found a seat on the front row of the balcony – yes I now much appreciate a concert while sitting down, what have I become – and settled in to enjoy the show.

After a fun opening act, Josh Garrels came to the stage and quickly I discovered this wasn’t simply to be a show. Rather, it felt almost more like a church service at times. Singing and preaching abounded! The songs were poignant and beautiful and brought emotions close to surface as I considered the love that is mine in knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. He started with “At the Table” and proceeded to play most of my favourite songs. Amazing set list. He played of course the classics – Ulysses, Farther Along, etc – but also some of my newer favourites like Steadfast and Watchman!

But honestly? As much as I loved the songs and rediscovered how amazing a good live show can be, I was almost more encouraged and my heart made full by listening to Josh bare his heart and soul between songs. At times it almost seemed as if Josh Garrels spoke as a prophet, exhorting us as Christians and believers in Christ to press in to what it means to be living in the here and now in the love of God, fully understanding and aware of the height and depths and breadth of the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord! Too often do we live as Christians in a way which almost seems to indicate that we believe all the lies this secular and faithless world attempt to persuade us are the truth. Too often do we live almost as if we don’t believe God works in this world at all. Do we actually believe that God still yet works mighty acts in this world in which we live? Do we actually believe that God came and walked upon this earth and died for us and rose again for our victory in Him, inaugurating a kingdom through his blood, a kingdom that shall know no end? Do we live in this present age understanding the power of the Spirit who lives within us, the Comforter promised and sent and resting upon our brow as holy oil anointing us as blessed ones? Do we live now walking forth each day in the triumphant and faith-filled joy that comes from being oh so aware that we are children of God? Josh Garrels talked much on such things, and on more besides and I dare say I can’t do his words justice now. But oh how wonderful it was to hear this humble man of God sing his heart out and then talk of the mercies and wonders of our Lord and point to God in whom is all our hope and joy.

I’m grateful for such a man whom God has blessed and given such creative talent. Still more? I’m grateful to hear the testimony of a man who knows that he’s washed and saved by the blood of Christ and ever dependent on Him every day for this life he lives. I’m grateful to be a part of the body of Christ and know that there are thousands of brothers and sisters who praise the God in whom I trust and that we all someday will be worshipping together before the throne. And even I walk and sing, recognizing that each day upon this earth is a day my God has given me. I thank God for the days he gives me now to serve his name and be faithful and wait for the upward call. I thank my Father for the knowledge that he has through His Spirit given me, that in my Jesus is my all in all. I long to see my Saviour’s face.

Hazelnut Lane

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Hello my friends!! I am posting this before work begins this morning, partly because I realise I haven’t properly written anything in far too long! And I thought that trend of not posting needs to be arrested immediately!! And even now, I don’t have the time to say much. But it is a beautifully cold morning here(low 40s – for Houston, shockingly cold!) and it’s pretty awesome finally getting to wear a turtleneck and sweater to work again. Yes, I am easily made happy. And so as I drove to work this morning with my hazulnut mocha, feeling warm and cosy in my car as I watched the sky slowly lighten and listened to Sufjan’s soft jams…I just realised how truly blessed I am – I have been given so much. No doubt there, none at all.

And really, I think back over this past weekend – and am even more thankful!! I’ve been having an interesting few months here(and few weeks! Maybe I shall discuss in depth at a later date, we shall see) and I know God has definitely been teaching me to even more fully rely on Him and enjoy Him purely and above all else. And I’ve still been feeling a bit emotionally weary…and then right before this upcoming weekend trip to Austin, I ended up getting physically sick! A nasty cold and fever…you know, all that good stuff. I almost cancelled the trip to Austin, but John talked me into it. And I’m very glad he did. Drove up with John to Austin Friday afternoon and spent some quality time hanging out with him that night and Saturday morning(before Melissa and Jim drove up to join us!). Me and John got lots of talking time…of course interspersed with some quality Doctor Who watching. Of course. And once Jim and Melissa joined us, we had a sweet afternoon(more wonderful talking as we walked in the Colorado River Wildlife Sanctuary in the middle of Austin – gorgeous walk, did not see any wildlife. Still, would come again). And as I walked on the woods trail and breathed deep of the crisp wintry air and looked at the piercing blue sky above…I gave thanks to God for his many and diverse blessings that He has given me. Later that evening was the object of our trip – the Oh Hellos concert! I’d not really listened to their music much(Christian folk/rock, I guess?), but John loves them, so I figured it’d be fun! And it was simply a grand time! Outdoor venue, so very very cold though – had my coat zippered all the way to my chin, still shivering in between sets! But being with Jim and Melissa and John…hearing beautiful music and looking up at the moon shining down on us from the nighttime sky and feeling the sure confidence that comes from knowing I am loved by my Father God. And so yesterday morning, we enjoyed a sweet breakfast at a French cafe, then worshiped at a church in downtown Austin…and after a much enjoyed pizza lunch, me and John drove back to Houston, where – of course – more quality talking time was had. And so now I am back in Houston, about to embark on another work week(ok – a very short two day work week!!) and though I know not all before me will be smiles and laughter, I know that God is with me and I cannot wait to see the things He has in store for me. The Lord God is my joy and my confidence – now and forever.

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that shall I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD
And to meditate in His temple.

Cinnamon Jump

James HoganLeave a comment

Happy Saturday, y’all!!! I seriously am only going to write a few words, because my feet are tapping and I’m eager to get out in the bright sunshine…and leave Starbucks behind, where I’ve spent far too much time today(shocking, I know!). But – it has been a most productive morning…got lots of little online chores done(having no Internet at home means Saturday Starbucks is my best time for online tasks, naturally…). I also mostly got my community group lesson for next week done, which is a pleasant surprise as I didn’t think I’d be able to complete it today. I probably will work on tightening it up a bit tomorrow…but it’s in good shape so I am happy. Looking at prayer and Philippians 1:9-11. Good words. I really did want to write a little something beautiful…like a poem or something…but I’ve been here too long and since I’m getting antsy – my heart is not in the poem-writing mood. Alas.

Quickly, before I fly! Last night! Spent a marvelous night with friends – reminded again as always of how much I’ve been blessed. Went out north to the Woodlands for a concert(of course accompanied by a fine tex-mex pre-show meal at Chuy’s…). Ernie, John, Michelle, Abby, Claire and Julie and I had such sweet times…talking, laughing, being silly…and then enjoying a quality rockin’ show by The Avett Brothers – they’re a folksy band that really knows how to rock!! I’d never heard them before, but not at all sorry I was there.

And oh I said I would only write a few words…how has it spilled to three paragraphs? Oops. Anyways, I’m going to leave and continue enjoying my Saturday. This is my last Saturday in Houston for a couple weeks…as next week, I’m going to be going on a fine Maryland adventure – return to my homeland indeed!! Will be some quality times with a quality friend…and I’m pretty psyched, cannot deny! Now I’m off for real. Need to do some shopping(thinking a fine dinner tonight of chicken, baked potatoes and homemade stuffing). But I can’t end this without simply stating how thankful I am for the blessings of my God. He has blessed me much. Peace, my friends. Peace and love!!!

Veil of Stars

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Hello friends – happy Saturday!! I’ve just finished some quality mix-CD-creating…at some later date(after Christmas maybe?), I’ll share the song-lists with you. As of now, both CDs(one for Maryanne and one for Laura!) are titled “Veil of Stars” and “Lilies on the Sun”. Pretty quality mix of songs, if I do say so myself. I’m actually super excited to give these CDs to them!! (Sisters, hope you’re not reading this. If so…oops?) Anyways, it’s already almost 2:30 in the afternoon, so I should probably start progressing my afternoon. I will soon(on to grocery store to shop for dinner…dinner being lasagna…YES), but figured I could squeeze in a quick entry. A week from now, I will be in Florida – hometime once again. It shall be glorious.

And the main reason I wanted to write a bit is to describe last night – and the awesomeness that it contained. Andrew Peterson(a recent favorite artist of mine, which you’d know if you’ve read previous entries…) is doing his annual Christmas tour – “Behold the Lamb of God”. Me and Daniel decided a few weeks ago that it’d be fun to hit it up, but I have to say, as of yesterday afternoon, I was not feeling it. It’d been a long week and a long day of working frantically and I was worn out. But – tickets were bought and plans were laid and I wasn’t about to back out. So as soon as I got back home from work, turned around in ten minutes(after filling up a travel cup with delicious honey-laden coffee…thank you Daniel for that suggestion!) and off we drove. Conveniently(said sarcastically), the concert was on the far southeastern side of Houston and so we made the fun drive through all of Houston to get to our destination. Happily(not sarcastically!), that meant me and Daniel got some quality chat as I drove the hour plus journey through the heart of Houston. And soon enough, we made it to the concert and enjoyed some super quality music. The first half of the show consisted of songs from a lot of the support singer/songwriters accompanying Andrew Peterson. I must confess, I was a bit annoyed at first – I’d come to hear Andrew Peterson, after all – didn’t really want to hear a bunch of other people! But seriously, all of the other artists were simply magnificent. Their songs were gorgeous, dripping with longing and love, passion and awe. And so at the intermission point, me and Daniel promptly went out and bought some of their CDs. I had promised myself early on not to buy very much…and I failed miserably. Ended the night with four new albums and one new book! Quality Christmas presents for myself. Yes? Oh and…Andrew Peterson finished the first half of the show by playing “Don’t You Want to Thank Someone”, one of my very very very favorite songs of late. He started off reciting the words as poetry…before playing/singing the rest. It was beautiful. I was overwrought with emotion. Thank You, God. …And the second half of the show was Andrew Peterson and his accompanists playing straight through his “Behold the Lamb of God” album. And it was gorgeous. A tale weaving stories from the Old Testament and New, focusing on the most glorious Person of Christ, the very Son of God. I rejoiced. Love and joy and hope and wonder!!! The songs finished and as we rose to applaud, all the musicians came together to accept our adulation…and then stop it – as they started all singing “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”. The rest of us joined and we worshiped God together. Beautiful majestic God, do we worship You. After that song finished, Andrew started off the Doxology, which we all said together in reverent praise. By the time we finished, the artists were off-stage and we were all thinking about the most glorious God of Heaven. As it should be. Praise be to God. Amen and Amen.

And far too many words, my friends. My apologies! And now I am off to do some errands and be about the rest of my day. Peace and love, my dear friends.

Nightwish

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And this will be a blitz of an entry – as I’m currently a bit starved and feel that a frozen pizza is calling my name this evening! But I cannot help but write at least a little this night!! Last night, got to experience an amazing event of music and beauty…seeing Nightwish live in concert. And yes, it was *AMAZING*.

Most live shows, you can’t really get across in plain words. Even a video wouldn’t do it justice! But take my word for it. And for those of you that are not Nightwish fans, let me briefly describe them: a band from Finland, sometimes described as orchestral power metal, sometimes described as symphonic power metal, and always described as crazy awesome beautiful music makers!! If you want a good intro, youtube “Sleeping Sun Nightwish”. Gorgeous.

Anyways, before I succumb to my hunger and end this entry…let my fingers be off and tell this tale! And let me warn you now…if you’re not one of the two Nightwish fans I know and are reading this…you may get bored partway through. My apologies. I just want to chronicle this while the memory is fresh!

Took the train into Glasgow yesterday afternoon(on which I got some sweet reading and even a little napping in!) and then met Jackie!! Which was absolutely amazing because I hadn’t seen her in ages…and by ages I mean a couple months. But still, so so good to see her again! We grabbed dinner(steak and chips mmm..) and had a delightful time chatting and catching up…my only regret is we didn’t have a chance to talk more, because sadly, we eventually had to make our way to the O2 for the show! After queuing for a bit, me and Jackie finally made our way indoors – beautiful venue!

Before the show started, we met a couple girls that also live in Aberdeen and had sweet times talking with them – eventually made our way to the floor, where we got spots super-close to the stage! We took lots of random pictures and eventually the show started! The support act was ok, but a little bit too crazy for me! And then…it was Nightwish time. They opened up with Storytime from their new album and then went into Dark Chest of Wonders and then I Wish I had an Angel! I have to admit, really weird(yet awesome!) seeing them actually play the songs live after listening to them for the past four years…seeing Tuomas interact playfully with Emppu mid-song…watching as Marco croons powerfully into the microphone as he’s rocking out…watching Jukka pound the drums ever more passionately…and then being stunned at the gorgeousness of Floor Jansen’s voice soar to the rafters. I couldn’t believe how good Floor was, since she just started singing for Nightwish mid-tour!

So yeah, they played so many of my favorite songs(including: The Islander! Planet Hell! Ever Dream! Ghost Love Score!) and the crowd was just electric. The band even seemed a bit taken aback by how loud we were! Seeing the emotions surge in Tuomas’ face as he played…I think one of the things that struck me the most about the show is just realizing – in truth – that all the band members…Tuomas and Emppu and Jukka and Marco and Floor…are real people just like us. And just like all of us, they rage and cry and love and dream…and I couldn’t help but pray for every one of them. And like I know I’ve written before, I realized again the sheer power of music. It has such a hold over us at times, such a firm grasp and we don’t even know it. And so once again, while I do so love the gift of music that God my Father has blessed us with…I also must acknowledge its dangers and not give it my heart…as is so easy to do! So here at the end of all things, I think of the beautiful evening I had last night and I thank my Lord for blessing me so! I got to hang out with Jackie and experience beautiful music. A good night! The only thing that would have made it better was if Laura could have been there too…I called her afterwards to give her the full run-down and felt sad that she couldn’t be with me. Laura, miss you!!

And now, it truly is dinner time. And then time to crack open a book. Read a little, wonder a little, love a little. And ever dream.

Summons of sunlight

James HoganLeave a comment

And since I’m sitting here in Starbucks this gloriously cold afternoon in Aberdeen, I feel almost compelled to write at least a few lines! Although I must confess my writing muse is cold and I don’t think I’m up to my usual standards of wordiness today. We shall see. I just knew I couldn’t let this opportunity to write a brief entry pass! I currently don’t have internet in the flat, so my online time is quite limited as of late…so this morning I trudged down George Street(making my customary doughnut stop) to Starbucks where I’ve been catching up on correspondence ever since! Oh and before I came here, stopped by the music store and picked up Imaginaerum, latest Nightwish album!! I’m sorely tempted to listen to it now, but will wait until I can listen to it properly at home. One amazing advantage to living in Europe…I was able to get this album now. You know when it’s released in the US? January 10th. Yep, there are certainly advantages! Anyways, I’m expecting this album to be epic, even more so than Dark Passion Play. (Other random note, now that I’m talking about Nightwish…Laura got me their “End of an Era” live DVD – watching that at home together with her was simply awesomeness)

And while my writing will hasn’t deserted me yet, I’ll continue, just touching on the highlights of the last few weeks! Last weekend, where was I, you may ask? Well, not in Aberdeen. I was in Glasgow, seeing Coldplay in concert! They kicked off their Mylo Xyloto tour in Glasgow and I WAS THERE. Sort of odd thinking that back in 2009, I snobbishly thought that Coldplay couldn’t possibly appeal to me since they were too mainstream. Ah how foolish was I. Anyways, Rosemary, Beth, Bree and I all rocked out and had a most amazing time. I’m not a big concert person in general…but I wanted to see them at least once! And they played all my favorite songs, so I was most satisfied. Yellow, Scientist, Fix You, Violet Hill…mmm, aural loveliness.

And seriously – enough about music now! I do enjoy good music so, but never may I let it subvert my worship to the King. Never.

On to my other highs for the month(year!) – home in Florida!! Of course it was awesome. Of course it was amazing. And of course I wasn’t quite ready to leave. And of course I am far too blessed. Besides watching far too much 24 and eating food far too delectable and buying far too many books to bring home(seriously, I had to bring an extra bag just for my books!! Hunger Games trilogy plus Lord of the Rings plus Towers of Midnight paperback plus a couple Joel Rosenberg books…YES), I simply loved relaxing with Dad and Mom and Katharyn and Maryanne and Laura…love you all, always.

And no, I did not limit myself to Tampa! Spent a day in Gainesville early on in my trip to catch up with RobG(yeah, we may or may not have spent over five hours together talking and playing frisbee and praying and…yeah) and awesomely got to see Deanna too! And after Thanksgiving and Christmas(yes, we celebrated Christmas on November 25th, since I won’t be home for real Christmas…), Maryanne and Laura and I drove up to Gainesville for the UF/FSU game! (Which I will not comment further on for the duration of this entry) But the most lovely part of the weekend(by far) was simply being with my sisters and the whole Lebo family, where I stayed a couple nights. What was included in this weekend adventure? Of course, classic awesomeness. Disc golf, epic board games(MUST get a copy of Shogun!!), delicious food, ping-pong and fun times talking and talking…yeah just amazing times. And I hadn’t seen Becca in nearly *two* years. So being able to talk to her again(in person!) was just glorious. Of course, my Gainesville trip had to come to an end eventually, so I bid farewell to Maryanne and Laura and the Lebo fam…I shall return, someday!

But all I can say about my Florida trip was that God has blessed me exceedingly…knowing I needed a time like that with the people he’s blessed me with so. And now, I worship him in humble adoration. Why do I deserve such extreme and everlasting love? I know not. I simply exalt my God and lift up His name – Him do I worship. Always.