Tag: journal

James HoganLeave a comment

It’s good to be home!! Houston was pretty fun, but being back home with my family…I love it. Enjoying good food, good conversations, and just relaxin’ as I get to be with my parents and sisters…I appreciate it even more now than ever, after being hundreds of miles away!! We got to have a nice spaghetti dinner this afternoon after church and then later this afternoon and evening, went to youth group. So fun seeing everyone and enjoying playing games. Especially some classic football at the end…been so long since I played so I know I’m gonna be sore tomorrow. But it was worth it!

Now I’m quite tired…but think we’re gonna watch a little more of the Olympics before I go off to bed. Farewell all!!

James HoganLeave a comment

I am overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord
and of his faithfulness to his chosen ones.
There is truly no One greater than He who
provides so richly for his children and
puts His hand of protection upon
all those who seek His face.

How great is His lovingkindness!
Higher than the heavens and
wider than the east is from the west
is the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, I am so undeservedly blessed
by the love of our most Holy Father.

Truly…those words are from my heart because today I’ve felt a flood of emotions. While I’m quite excited(!!) to be coming back to Florida soon, I’ve realized how much I’ve been blessed this summer. I remember getting ready to come to Texas and having no idea what this summer would be like. And indeed, I was a little nervous coming to Houston and not knowing anyone at all. I wondered if I’d be able to find a good church and good friends. But really, why did I doubt?? Where was my faith?? Because God is a good Father, He has blessed me so much more than I could have thought or imagined. He has given me a good church(Bethel w000t!)in which to worship and be blessed by the preaching of the Word. He has given me friends whom I could both encourage and be encouraged by. He has given me people who have welcomed me into their homes and ministered to me every Sunday. He has given me so much.

This was my last Sunday at church and I don’t really get emotional that often, but I felt that way today. Knowing it would be a long time(if even in this life) that I saw all of these people again…I think if I were the crying sort, I would have cried. I’m just so thankful to the God who despite all my wickedness and sinfulness and rebellion…who chooses to bless me as a beloved son. I am indeed blessed. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Just had a lovely breakfast of bacon and coffee. Mmm, nothing better!! I love lazy Saturday mornings, even if my work schedule has trained my body well enough that I can’t sleep past 8:30! I had a great morning relaxing and reading the Word while I enjoyed breakfast(by the way…Galatians is pretty awesome!! Freedom in Christ forevah!!) Now I think I’ll take a walk and maybe stop by Target or Best Buy…it’s pretty awesome that they’re only a five minute walk away!(Of course, I do have to cross under a major freeway and all…but shh, that’s a secret)

I still can’t believe I only have two more weeks of work left…and then it’s back to Florida! While this summer has been pretty sweet, I am looking forward to coming back to my family and all my friends and getting ready for my SENIOR YEAR at UF!! Whoa, that’s just craziness. I’ve realized that four years ago(as I started this livejournal), I was getting ready to start my senior year at Gaither. How I have changed…mostly for the better, I do believe!

But before it gets too hot outside(hmm, may be too late for that), I’m off for my mid-morning walk! From Houston…signing off. Go forth and conquer!

James HoganLeave a comment

Wow, today has been a LONG day! I actually woke up today around 4:45(AM!!). Ridiculous, huh? It was because my sunday school class at my church(Bethel) was helping put a garage sale on. Anyway, I was pretty tired when I first woke up, but after my shower and some awesome bacon and coffee, I was raring to go. Well, mostly! The garage sale was lots of fun, partly because it’s always fun to help someone else out and partly because it was fun hanging out with the people here…whom I’m finally getting to know now, so it’s good times! A lot of the time, when nothing was happening with the sale, I would just be talking to one person or another…and I really enjoyed that. It’s been a while since I’ve had Christian fellowship like that. After the sale was over, I was pretty exhausted but Sibi(my co-intern) and I had planned to go to “The Galleria”, a huge mall here in Houston. I was wondering how big a mall could be, but this mall definitely was the biggest mall I’ve ever been in. It had 3 levels and multiple huge buildings…and an ice skating rink in the middle of the food court. Yeah, pretty awesome. It was so fun walking through the mall and exploring all the stores and having no idea where anything was and seeing so many people!!! And I actually “shopped” at the mall…i.e., I bought clothes there, which I never do, so I was a little shocked at myself. After some harrowing moments trying to get back to our hotel, finally got back here and now I am ready to crash. Been doing laundry and just took a shower and I am ready for a good night’s sleep!!! Hope everyone is having great times wherever you are…and I am going, going, gone. G’night, all!

James HoganLeave a comment

Today has been a sweeeeet day. Got up nice and early around 9(hey, that’s early for a Saturday!) and walked to Wal-Mart to pick up some creamer and sugar. Then got back to my place and made a breakfast of awesomeness!! Fried up some bacon and made some gooood coffee out of the beans Shari, Deanna and Amy gave me. I love bacon and I love coffee. And bacon and coffee together? Amazing.

The rest of the day was spent relaxin’ and chilling here…and enjoying not having to work for a day. Even though work did go awesome this week! I’m really starting to enjoy it. And right now, I just finished some dishes as I wait for my pork chops to finish baking. That’s right – pork chops. I fried up pork chops, potatoes and green beans and now they’re all baking and I can’t wait to eat it…since it’s one of my favorite meals! That’s the one fun thing about living by myself; I’m learning how to make all my most favorite meals!

Wow, this week has been great…good times at work, good times today making great food, and good times coming up tomorrow as I get ready for church. God is indeed an awesome God!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Update from Houston!! Don’t have a lot of time, because I want to go to bed soon..(At 10pm? Shocking!!!) I have work tomorrow, but thought I’d like to give everyone a brief update on how I’ve been doing! Houston is still pretty sweet, even though I must admit, I haven’t *quite* finished exploring it yet! Actually, I’ve mostly been working…it’s definitely different, having an 8-5 job! It’s not bad but I have to say, it’s not as easy and straightforward as school either!! Anyway, today was pretty awesome because I got to finally go to church today…went to a cool church called Bethel Independent Presbyterian…I enjoyed it much there and was happy to meet some people there. Looking forward to some good times hanging out with them!

And then this afternoon I just relaxed, talking to my family, talking to Rob G as he made his way back to Tally after Lindsay and Nick’s wedding in Gainesville(which I most sadly missed…)…and then watching the U.S. Open where Tiger made a sweet 15-ft birdie putt to force a playoff tomorrow. Awesomeness. And I was wearing my new red polo today(which I love because it’s bright…and red…and just plain awesome) and I thought it was cool because Tiger always wears his red polo on Sunday…so yeah, Tiger was matching me.

After the golf game, I made a hamburger and fries and relaxed a little more watching a couple of my favorite scenes from “What about Bob?” Sundays are awesome! So good to worship and rest! And now I must get my sleep.

Hope you enjoyed this brief update! From Houston…over and out.

James HoganLeave a comment

I have an announcement to make: James is now in Houston!!

And in case any of you wonder WHY I’m in Houston right now(even though you should know, because I’ve written it here before), it’s because my internship starts this week!! Orientation starts on Wednesday, but since I got here last night(on a completely unremarkable flight, which is a GOOD thing) I have a couple days to just chill in Houston! Before my real work begins…

Anyways, don’t worry – even though I don’t have anything to do, I’ve still not been just lying around in bed all day. I got up around 8 or so this morning to get the continental breakfast downstairs(which was quite good, so I was happy!) After breakfast, I relaxed for a while in my room, talking to various people via phone and internet. As the day went on, I realized I really didn’t want to spend my whole day in the hotel room, so I decided I was going to find a park. And play disc golf. And it would be awesome.

Thus begins the Great Disc Golf Adventure of today! I looked up the locations of several parks and found one that was right down the road from my hotel. Now, since it was “right down the road”, I thought I could get there quickly. Let me tell you something though…6.5 miles takes longer to walk than you think. As I set out on my adventure, I felt like a hobbit…walking down an unknown road…with the sun beating down on me…and dangers at every corner. But the analogy breaks down because I don’t think the hobbits carried Gatorade. And I don’t have hairy feet. Anyway, let me continue. As I got to about the halfway point of my journey, I stopped at Burger King for lunch(Hmmm, I don’t think Middle Earth had BKs, either…). After lunch, slightly refreshed and fighting the temptation to take a nap, I kept walking. And walking. Finally, I got to the intersection that I knew the park was at!! I saw a park off to my left, so I went towards it victoriously..only to find there was no disc golf course. Quite disheartened, I walked across the street to see if there was another park…and then in the distance, I saw the glint of the sun on the chains of a basket. Victory was mine!!!

The only problem with walking so far is that by the time I was at the park, I was a bit weary, so I rested for a while before I tried out my sweet new Star-Orc disc Rob had given me. The disc was up to the challenge. I however, was not in my top form. Still, it was great fun trying out a new disc golf course! As I finished the course, I realized a terrible truth. I had come a long way to play. And now I would have to go back that same way. As I walked(and walked and walked) back to my hotel, I felt even more like a hobbit. But if before I was setting off on a journey in the peace of the Shire, now I felt like I was Frodo trudging up the slopes of Mt. Doom, my legs leaden and my spirit weakening. Thankfully, I had something Frodo did not. The Bus. I rode the bus a couple miles before it turned off, but I had never so much appreciated a bus before. And I have never had a dollar so well spent.

As I finally approached my hotel, it was with a weary exultation! I collapsed on my bed and rested for a while before taking a shower(hot showers are AWESOME) and eventually grabbing dinner at McDonalds…

And thus ends the Great Disc Golf Adventure! I have to say, I have a much increased admiration for marathon runners…Walking 11 miles or so tired me out…I can’t imagine running a marathon. Well, at least not now in my current state of fitness.

And now, I am still tired. Well, at least my legs are. So I must call it a day. G’night all!!! And hope you didn’t mind reading this long(AGAIN) post. I really should try to shorten my writing…ah well. Farewell!

Good times in T-town!

James HoganLeave a comment

Wow, just realized I haven’t posted in a while…and I’ve had such an awesome past couple weeks too!! Well, I guess I should write about some of it now, because a few days from now I won’t have too much time to write…because I’ll be in Houston, YEAH! Rocking out in my [hopefully] sweet intern position and getting used to the Texas air…which apparently isn’t too different from Florida air. I’ll let you all know.

Anyways…a little more than a week ago I turned 21. Whoa. I have to say, that’s just a scary age to turn – awesome. But scary. I realized a few days later walking past the liquor store…”Wait, I can actually go in there and buy whatever I want now.” Not that I’m going to anytime soon(on a side-note…I’m still not sure what my first actual “purchase” will be, hmm..)…but still, just knowing it’s possible! But yeah, weird.

Ok, back to my birthday though. It was definitely different from most people’s 21sts. And definitely awesome. On Saturday me and my family went to our church conference where we had great fun hanging out with all the people from our church, singing, listening to good messages and just relaxin’. On that night, as me and my mom and sisters were chilling at our little villa, they all sang to me as the clock turned to 12. And then we ate popcorn and watched some Fresh Prince. I love my family so much…

The next day was more church conference and it was so much fun just being with all the people from church. After that me and my family went back home and we had a great relaxing afternoon as I saw my multitudes of facebook notes and got some cool voicemails from people. I got to say, I have some pretty good friends. That night we had Pizza Hut pizza and salad and again…enjoying being with the fam. God is good!!

Ok, now let’s skip a few days…partly because if I don’t, I’ll have the most massive entry of all time!! Anyways, on Thursday of last week, I got my license. And please, don’t look at me with those shocked faces…I know, I know. I’m 21 and I didn’t have my license yet. But hey, it’s a free country, right? Anyways, I rocked the driving test and now I can officially drive on my own. And it’s awesome. I’m taking full advantage of this freedom to borrow the parents’ car and take my sisters places, pick people up…etc. I love it! Now I just need a car…again, suggestions/free cars welcome!

Wow, this is going to be a humongous entry. Well, on Friday, I had some fancy company coming in to town, and by fancy, I mean Deanna, Amy, and Shari! They wanted to come the weekend of my birthday, but the church conference was on, so they came by this past weekend instead. So much fun because they got to all meet my family! Well, Amy already had, but Shari and Deanna didn’t, so yeah. We had my birthday lasagna dinner at home, played games(Pass the Pigs, anyone?) and ate ice cream and cake with Dave and Dream who had come over at this point. I got some sweet Seattle coffee(which I’m extremely tempted to try) from them and a sweet Star Orc disc from Rob(which I’m also extremely tempted to try and can’t believe I haven’t yet!). Anyways, after that, we just talked until about 2 or 2:30 or so…until we were too exhausted. They all slept in the girls’ room and the next morning we had an awesome pancake/bacon breakfast courtesy of Dad! And that morning we played some ping-pong and then went to Five Guys(YES) for lunch. Oh yeah, and I drove Deanna’s Accord, which is one sweet ride.

Wow, why am I writing so much??? Anyways, after lunch, we went over to the movie theatre to see Indy 4!! Dream and Dave joined us there and we partook of…well…Indy 4. I want to say it was awesome, but I can’t quite…it was interesting. I’ll say that much. I just don’t think it’s as good as the first three. But, I will say this. It was AWESOME seeing Indiana Jones on the big screen for the first time in my life.

After the movie, me and Shari grabbed the other Indy movies at Target and then we went back to my house and had dinner…and then watched National Treasure 2 with the rest of the fam! Fun times indeed…and then they had to leave. Most sad…because I probably won’t see ’em for the rest of the summer..but the times we had was so great…the friends that God’s given me are indeed most amazing blessings!!

Anyways…wow. This post is still going. This week has been sweet thus far, and I’ll end this post by saying tonight was awesome because Dream and her brother John came over and me and Maryanne and Laura watched Indy 3(Last Crusade) with them. Great times!!! I’m gonna miss these times when I’m in Houston…

And now, I really do need to close this post. If anyone read all of this post…You win my eternal adoration. Ok, not really. But you get major props.

To all of you, g’night!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Wow, I am so tired right now…I have definitely lost my college power of staying up late! But I guess I know partly why I’m so tired; me and my family spent a large portion of today at the beach!! It was a most awesome time of just being with my whole family and relaxing on the sugary sand, soaking in the beautiful water and enjoying the crystal sunlight. We had such a great time talking, splashing around, playing a little football…you know, I just love my family. So being with them was just awesome!!! After we got back pretty late(I guess around 8:15 or so), we made a few frozen pizzas and watched some American Idol…so life is good at the Hogan household. Now I’m pretty tired from all that sun and water, so I guess I need sleep! Anyways, this break has been pretty sweet thus far and I’m going to wager that this sweetness isn’t going to end anytime soon. G’night, all!!