Tag: jesus

Waiting

James HoganLeave a comment

My latest read:

10.  The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan.  Finished reading this last night on the porch of EQ, sun shining bright.  Now already on to the third book in series!  But…this one was great fun and once again I forgot how many dramatic events happened in this book!  Rand’s first real duel with swords(goodbye Turak), Egwene’s experience with the Seanchan(horrifyingly scary), Ingtar’s salvation(“Shinowa and the Light!”  …this moment is still one of the most tear-inducing sequences in entire series – no one is so far gone that they cannot yet be redeemed…), the Heroes of the Horn, the Portal Stones, Lanfear’s grand entrance…alright, I’ll stop now since most of you have no idea what any of this means!!  Just know it was a brilliantly written book that almost never stopped for breath.  Love it.  Also sad since this one is the last book we get with relatively “normal” Rand.  Now his descent into madness begins…

And since I’m writing, might as well also share my encouragement at my latest readings.  Reading Psalm 77 & 78 and then further in Genesis this morning.  And I do so love Asaph’s psalms because he is so real and honest about his emotions and how he is feeling.  He didn’t always feel the presence of God – just as we don’t always – and sometimes he wondered if the goodness of God was even real.  “Will the Lord reject forever?  And will He never be favourable again?  Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?”  And on and on in this vein he goes.  And then he pulls himself together and resolves to remember the deeds of the Lord and ponder all the things that God has done in his life…and confidently declares that the way of the Lord is indeed holy.  Might we remember this in our dark moments when it seems as if God is not working at all.  Meditate on what God has done in your life in days past…and hold on to the truths of who God is.  God is faithful and loving and holy and good and sovereign and magnificent and glorious and He is God.  And in Psalm 78 we get the counter-example of the nation of Israel…even though they did eat the bread of angels and saw with their own eyes the glories of God, they still committed the most serious sin of unbelief.  They did not believe what God had said despite seeing His works with their own eyes.  Might we tremble as we think on the fact we have so often failed to believe in God in our own life.  Despite the fact that He loved us.  He loves us!  How can we yet fail and fall so many times.  But we do and although it is a terrible thing that we would doubt God…our Lord is loving and faithful to forgive us our sins, because He is our Father who loves us dearly.

And one further reminder of how it is good to be still and wait on God even though we oft don’t believe He is working.  Abram received the promise of God that He would have a son from his own seed.  And this is a grand promise and one that Abram did indeed believe – “He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  But later on…did Abram doubt?  I think he did.  Some time later, he still had no child.  And he must have thought – “Well, I suppose God wants me to take matters into my own hands?  Maybe I’m supposed to do something different.  I’m oh so tired of waiting.” Alright, I’m sure he didn’t put it exactly like that…but when his wife Sarai suggested that he have a child with the maid Hagar instead…Abram agreed.  What a terrible idea, right??  “Well, I can’t have a child with my wife…so I suppose I will have one with my wife’s maid instead.  That’s surely what God has in mind.”  And it is definitely a bad idea and there is much fallout from it yet God uses it as He uses all things.

But don’t we so often do the same thing?  We are tired of waiting for God.  And we think that if we just took matters into our own hands…then things would work out the way they were supposed to.  Right?  We rationalize an ill-founded decision because we think it will get us what we want.  We stop believing in God.  We start believing in ourselves.  I will forge my own destiny and I will obtain my heart’s desires.  Oh us of too little faith in God and too great of faith in ourselves. 

Think and ponder and meditate on the glorious nature of God and on what He has done in your life.  Be thankful and rejoice in the works of the Lord in you.  And although waiting is irksome and tiring at times, it is good to be still and wait on our Lord.  Rest in the knowledge of the most perfect love of Christ.  Forever and always.

Passion

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So…baseball Opening Day was yesterday.  Sadly – I did not go to any baseball games, but surprisingly(and probably for the last time this year), all three of my teams won!  Rays had a comeback victory over Boston, Baltimore took out the Twins in the 11th with an Adam Jones homer…and the Astros just plain dominated with Verlander pitching like the Hall of Famer he is.  So I am happy.  Yay baseball!  Spring is now officially here.

But…far more importantly…today is what is commonly called Good Friday, despite the fact that the event it commemorates is horrifyingly brutal in the extreme.  The day man decided (once again!) that they knew better than God.  The day humanity decided (once again!) that they were better off without God.  The day we killed God.

And as shocking as that turn of events was…in the end it truly was a Good day.  For it was the day that God sacrificed Himself.  For us.  For all of us who put our faith in Jesus.  For all of us who give up our lives in submission to the only true God.  For all of us who bow the knee to the One who saves.

In honour of the events of today, I much enjoyed reading Philippians this morning…many many verses kept striking me with their brilliant truths, but I shall only quote a few of my favourites this day.  Despite the filth and lies we are surrounded by…remember:

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish
so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him,
not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through
faith in Christ,
the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

and…

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ;
who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the
body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject
all things to Himself.

-Philippians 3:7-11,20-21

Let us remember these things.  Let us pause this day in the midst of our frantic lives and ponder and meditate on the One who did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped – even though He is God – but instead emptied Himself and became a Man and lived and died and rose again.  For us.

Amazing love, how can it be – that Thou my God shouldst die for me!?!

Éponine

James HoganLeave a comment

Read some of my favourite verses this morning…

For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to
think like a child, reason like a child;
when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face;
now I know in part,
but then I will know fully
just as I also have been fully known.
-1 Corinthians 13:9-12

I would like to dwell on the following phrases this day.  Firstly, “…but when the perfect comes…”  What a sublime few words, what a gorgeous sigh of hope.  Someday.  Secondly…”…for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face…”  Oh so true is it that our eyes can scarcely pierce the hollow lies of this dark and weary world.  There is a Truth about this world and though sometimes we glimpse it and though sometimes we may reach for it, our reaching is fumbling with our eyes half-closed.  There is a light glorious though and that light beckons true.  Someday our knowledge of the Truth will not be as though seen through shifting waters.  No, someday our knowledge of the Truth will be complete and full and perfect because we shall see that Truth face to face.  To bow at the feet of my Lord Jesus Christ.  Someday.  And “…just as I also have been fully known.”  Now our knowledge is partial and wavering and oh so frail at times.  Yet now – even now – we are completely and utterly known.  Our souls are not lost in the void and despite the devils’ siren call to blissful nothingness, we can with confidence state that we are loved by the One who knows our name.  Is it better to be self-determinedly lost and not yet found?  I say no, I say never.  Never again.  We have a higher hope, a sweeter faith, a most perfect love.  After all, we are fully known.

Coffee and the Tea

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Good morning friends, and happy Thursday!!  A brief few words…

I’ve much enjoyed this morning – sub-fifty temperatures for (maybe?) the last time this year.  Oh how I love a good cold morning!!  Now sitting here at my desk with a nice cup of black coffee(honey-sweetened, of course) and since my heart is full, I suppose I thought it was a good idea to write at least a little bit, before my day heats up drastically.

This morning as I was slowly waking up, I had the half-conscious thought/prayer, “Lord I am trying so hard”.  Don’t ask me what it was in relation to – in total honesty, I can’t quite remember – only I know that it’s a sigh of the heart that I often have – do you not sometimes pray and not even know what you’re praying?  Anyways immediately some words came to mind that much encouraged me – “It is not the man who wills or the man who runs, but the Lord who has mercy.”  That stunned me – because again I was sorta half asleep at the time – and I felt much blessed that God should grant me these words from my past reading of the Word.  I couldn’t quite remember the reference at first(first I thought it was Isaiah…then Romans.  Had to be somewhere in my recent reading, right?), but eventually(i.e., right now) I looked this up and found it is indeed Romans 9:16, which I read sometime in the past week or so.  Anyways – I say all this not to prop myself up, for surely that goes against the very spirit and words of that verse, but just to remark upon the graciousness of God and to encourage you all to make reading the Word a priority.  How much of a blessing was it for my self-centered, erroneous words of prayer to be immediately corrected and for myself to be much uplifted by these words of Scripture.  Truly a work of the Holy Spirit.  All praise be to God!!  My human effort and vain attempts at justifying myself are as nothing.  Dust in the wind.  Yet the grace and merciful lovingkindness of the Lord is sufficient for me.  For me!  Think on the wondrous mercy and love of our Lord.  Behold our God!

And a few brief more verses that are some of my very favourites that I do not think on often enough:

When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within,
then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.
With Your counsel You will guide me,
and afterward receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And beside You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all Your works.
-Psalm 73:21-28

Liability

James HoganLeave a comment

So about to start this Wednesday(thankfully have a nice hot cup of coffee in front of me to aid and assist in this endeavour!)…just thought I’d share a few brief thoughts.

Firstly, was listening to my newest mix Tears of Nienna – which at some point, yes, I will post tracklist for – and as the CD wound down, I heard Taylor Swift’s “New Year’s Day”…a song laced with gorgeous piano, but apart from that, one line struck me: “Hold onto your memories, they will hold onto you.”  Apart from Taylor’s intended meaning for this, the line struck me because indeed, memories have such a strong hold on us at times.  The Lord knows I can surely fall into the nostalgia trap…I do so love thinking about dear memories and pondering the treasured past at times.  Do I do this too much?  Sometimes, yes.  It’s not a bad thing to think or recall the good things in your past – or indeed – remembering the deeds of the Lord in your life up to this point!  But – of course there was a but coming – we should be striving to live in the moment and press on to the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  We don’t want our memories to hold onto us.  All things in this life should be held loosely, even our memories of times most sweet.  Only one thing should we cling to – our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Secondly, this morning I read about Peter coming to preach to Cornelius and his household of heathens(i.e., Gentiles).  What a marvelous, momentous occasion was this.  For so long it was thought that salvation and the grace of God was limited to the Jews…now…God decreed and made manifestly known that the gift of eternal life was for all.  Peter was commanded to preach the gospel to these non-Jews(horror!) and he obeyed.  And God poured out His Holy Spirit upon them even as they heard the gospel of God.  The impact of this event can not be overstated.  Salvation and eternal blessings and ceaseless glory belong to all who believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no barrier based on nation, race or creed.  How amazing is the love of God.  Amen?  Amen.

Flowing Gold, Softer Silver

James HoganLeave a comment

A few minutes to write this morning.  …as I drove in to work this morning, noted the overwhelming full golden moon in the west.  Slowly did it sink towards the horizon.  But I could not help but be staggered by the beauty of the golden moon contrasted with the dark early morning sky and the garish city lights…the gleaming yellow loveliness of the moon overshadowed all else.  All praises to the One who made it so.

And…I suppose I have at least a couple minutes to write on my readings this morning?  Oddly enough(or not?!), my readings – as disparate as they were – had a common theme running throughout.  The love of money is a dangerous thing…for truly wealth is not all and it will flow away, as fickle and fragile as a moonbeam in your hand.  So why do we put our trust in money?  We have hope in something that is so much better, do we not?

A few words from the exceedingly chilling prophecies of Ezekiel(sadly I have not the time to write all the words…but you can read for yourselves Chapters 6 & 7 to get full context):

“Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations
to which they will be carried captive,
how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me,
and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols;
and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which
they have committed, for all their abominations.
Then they will know that I am the Lord;
I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster upon them…

All hands will hang limp and all knees will become like water.
They will gird themselves with sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them;
and shame will be on all faces and baldness on all their heads.
They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will not be able
to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.
They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs,
for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling…

Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.
Therefore, I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses.
I will also make the pride of the strong ones cease, and their holy places will be profaned.
When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none.
Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be added to rumor;
then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost
from the priest and counsel from the elders.
The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed in horror,
and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
According to their conduct I will deal with them,
and by their judgements I will judge them.
And they will know that I am the Lord.”

Sorry for the over-quoting.  But truly, what serious words are those.  Can your wealth save?  Can your luxuries satisfy?  Surely no.  And what devastating words are these: “According to their conduct I will deal with them and by their judgements I will judge them.”  That is what we all deserve, to be judged according to the full measure of our deeds.  Oh what bleakness is that.

Secondly…I also read in Acts 3…the account of Peter and John healing the lame man.  One line quite struck me:

“But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, ‘Look at us!’
And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, ‘I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you:
in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene – walk!'”

And just imagine that scene.  Put yourselve in the lame man’s place…as he first anticipated that these kind gentlemen were about to give him money…and then in that split second after they said “I do not possess silver and gold,” imagine his disappointment.  His face falls, his hope fails.  That split second of disillusionment and pain.  But then.  Peter continues speaking and utters that most beautiful name – Jesus Christ.  And as He heals the man through the power of God and changes this man’s life forever, what joy crosses that man’s face.  He has received physical healing, yes.  But of far more importance – eternity awaits! – he hears the name of Jesus and witnesses the power of God. 

Do we understand this?  We put so much faith and hope in earthly things – status, wealth, power.  We think – surely if I had enough money, all would be well.  Surely.  But these things never satisfy.  And so as the people of Jerusalem found out, all their wealth was as nothing in the face of their iniquities and the judgment of God.  So too is all our money worthless for wiping away the stench and filth of our sins.  Only One can take away our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness and that is Jesus Christ, very God Himself.  So today, let us set aside our worries for the physical things of this world and instead set our eyes on Jesus, the true Author and Perfecter of our faith.  All else may fail us.  All else will fail us.  But our God never shall leave us nor forsake us – He will truly be with us and watch over us and care for us, all the days of our life.  The nearness of God is our good, for He has forgiven us all our sins.  Let us remember, let us rejoice and let us ceaseless love.

Shooting Star

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A sleepy morning. Yet I must confess I had a most enjoyable reading time(with my eggs and coffee)…reading a couple of my favorite chapters – Luke 21 & 22. I don’t have time to fully explicate these chapters and describe my thoughts…but this morning as I read, I was just encouraged by the words and actions of Jesus. From Him telling Peter, “Simon, Simon – Satan has demanded permission to sift you as wheat. Yet I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. When you have returned, strengthen your brothers.” We could spend hours just discussing that alone!! Oh how I love the fact that although Jesus doesn’t deny Satan permission to test Peter….he does say He prayed for Peter – he prayed for his faith. Oh how I long that Jesus would pray thus for me. And later on…as Jesus is fervently praying and tired and emotionally worn out…he is strengthened by an angel from heaven. Then he comes back and sees the disciples and what are they doing? Sleeping of course. He tells them “Pray that you might not fall into temptation.” Oh might I heed these words – what is better, to be self-satisfied and confident in my own abilities, to be awake yet sleeping? Or to desparately pray for that aid which we know we need, that we not stumble and fall. And later on in the chapter of course…Peter denies Christ, as Jesus knew he would. And at that moment of Peter’s third denial, we read that “Jesus turned and looked at Peter”. What was in Jesus’ eyes? What was that look? I imagine it as sorrow and love mingled…yet I cannot say. But Peter responded as is only proper. He fled and wept bitterly. To deny our Lord and Christ – how can we do this? Yet we do it every day. Pray to the Father for relief from temptation. Cry out to the Lord in prayer, day and night. And remember…Jesus is even now(as per Luke 22!) at the right hand of God in glory and He never ceases to plead your case. Forgiven am I. Eternity with my God awaits. Ne’er should I doubt my future when such joy is assured.

A slow Realisation

James HoganLeave a comment

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.

First Date

James HoganLeave a comment

As of when I hit this post button, I will have posted every single day of this year thus far. Granted, that is only three days. Still – let me bask in this moment, at least for a bit.

Today is Serious Topic Tuesday, a day which may or may not be repeated depending on my mood and work schedule this coming year. But today at least, I have a Topic and so I shall Discuss. What is this topic? Why – it is of days and stars and sundry things. In more mundane terms – astrology.

The soothsayers out there may rejoice in this study of the celestial bodies and their alleged influence on our lives. I do not rejoice at this topic – indeed, it’s been a reason for scoffing oft in my past. But today as I perused one of my online havens, I noted an article about this subject and I wondered why so many people seem to put such stock in something that seems to be founded on such sinking sands. I do not understand. And like most of us, I don’t like not understanding something. I eventually clicked on the article and sighed to myself as I began to read. This article was written in a quite positive manner (I suppose I should cite my source – so it is The Ringer, article link here: Teen Astrologists of Tumblr) and I quickly began to understand the fascination attraction astrology has for so many.

What is its attraction?  Well, remember what I said above?  We don’t like not understanding a thing.  This is true.  We – I speak as the human collective – do not like things without meaning, things that do not make sense.  When we see the wars raging in this world, our soul crys out: why?  When we see the hurricanes and blizzards tear down our homes, our soul crys out: why?  And when our relationship fails or our emotions spiral into the abyss of self-reflective loathing, our soul crys out: why?  Again – we like to make sense of things.  The grand affairs of this world may be beyond the scope of most of us.  But our individual lives, surely we can put those in order.  Ok maybe not that.  But surely we can at least understand why we are the way we are and why things happen to us the way they do.  Right?  Maybe then we can determine which decisions we should make to maximize our happiness and minimize our failures.  And thus is the lure of the study of the stars.  It tells us why.  It tells a story of ourselves which explains things that we cannot explain on our own.  And like all great stories that we love telling, it puts us at the center.

Now – I did not think I would be able to adequately explain this…then I go to to the final two paragraphs of the article.  These lines say it all, far better than I could.  Excerpted below:

“I was comforted by her response. I’d spent a significant amount of time and effort reporting out this story. And Ives’s breezy logic made me feel at ease. This generation rules the internet! I thought. Case closed! It was only then I understood the awe of her teen fan base. Her relaxed, poetic analysis of whatever complicated life puzzle was thrown her way was therapeutic to witness. It made sense that a young, emotionally ripe teen would find solace in her words.

“It’s stories about you that I’m writing,” Ives ventured, explaining her appeal. “You’re the one who’s divine. You’re the one that’s a god or a goddess. You’re the one that should be worshipped. You’re the one who has all the answers and has all this potential. You don’t need anyone else to bring that out of you; it’s all you. Astrology is just a reflection of that potential. The ultimate truth will be inside you.” Or, in the case of her band of teen followers, somewhere deep down a Tumblr rabbit hole.”

And there you go.  This author – props to her by the way on a well written article – said it beautifully.  We like things to make sense.  We like to think we are as gods.  Re-read the above paragraphs and the stark attraction of astrology is immediately evident.  The mechanics and foundation of this alleged science are unimportant.  What is important is the results – namely, self-discovery, self-realization and self-actualization.  Once you have ascended to the throne and sat down, all else is unimportant.

But does reality beg to differ?  Why yes, it does.  And this is what I find so fascinating.  Is astrology real?  Is it not?  Does it matter?  These are all questions that can be pondered, but at the end of the day, one must wonder – what is real?  Because if certain things are real, we should shudder at the implications.  This is where I get on my soapbox – pardon, but it’s *my* soapbox – and declare that truth does indeed matter.  All our self-constructed idealogies crumble and fall before the reality of the universe and He who made it.  If there truly is a god – and this god is far more real than a star-crossed fantasy – then there are realities that need to be considered.  Who is this god?  What impact does this god have on my life?  Does the story of this god answer all my deepest questions and quell all my deepest fears?  If this story is truly worth telling because it is Real, then I must consider carefully what I believe.  What we believe does have consequences.  What we believe shapes who we are and what decisions we make.  And if there is a god who demands our worship, then we must answer.  There is only one throne.  Who is on that throne?  Is it I?  Or is it God?

Consider carefully what is truth before you ascend to that throne.  Consider carefully, my friend.

Road Goes Ever On

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I really have not written enough lately. Apologies.

But today at least…even though I don’t plan on writing much, I can say – Happy New Year!! This year of 2018 is now beginning – may it be ever blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ – amen? Amen.

Today has been a glorious day to begin this new year – a day of rest and joy and fellowship with friends so dear! Since last night I got back from Calgary in the evening, didn’t feel like going to any parties and so I stayed home, hung out with John and Camille and was in bed before 11. Slept straight through to sometime after 6 this morning – ringing in the new year is overrated, says I. This morning went and got breakfast with Earnie and Julian…over three hours at Starbucks/Buffalo Grille and what topic didn’t we cover? I shan’t describe our conversations…but I am truly blessed with such friends as them. Heartily encouraged. Following that, went and did a shop at HEB, then home for laundry, etc!

This afternoon has been amazing – I started by putting together my roast beef dinner. A nice eye of round roast with potatoes and onions and carrots – now in the oven “resting”. I will be able to eat it sometime this evening. Eventually. Apartment smells simply wonderful just now. And these past few hours, been relaxing on the couch with my coffee and reading and Rachmaninoff. Also been texting a bit with friends – guess I shouldn’t omit that! Reading D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones “Authority” – read the chapter on the authority of Jesus Christ right now and while I probably should excerpt some so you can get the beauty of his words, I’ll just encourage you to read it on your own. Understanding that there is nothing on this earth that is more important for us to understand than that our salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone. What shall we preach but Christ crucified? There is nothing that shall answer that aching longing in our souls except to be filled up to the utmost by the glory of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen and Amen.

And…on that note, back to coffee and reading…