How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up
for those who fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men
on those who take refuge in you.
In the shelter of your presence
you hide them from the intrigues of men;
in your dwelling you keep them safe
from accusing tongues.
Praise be to the LORD,
for he showed his wonderful love to me
when I was in a besieged city.
In my alarm I said,
‘I am cut off from your sight!’
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I called to you for help.
Love the LORD, all his saints!
The LORD preserves the faithful,
but the proud he pays back in full.
Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the LORD.
Tag: scripture
Scent of Roses
And as I think of writing a few lines here…I sign in happiness, relaxing at home in Tampa!! The cool Florida sea-breezes are blowing through the house and I smell lunch(hash – fried beef, potatoes, onions and carrots, mmmmm…) on the stove and I’m chilling here with Dad…yep it’s a good day!! Just had a sweet few minutes outside in the glorious Florida sunshine, watering the roses and digging in the garden a bit.
But no, getting home wasn’t that easy. After a somewhat over-adventuresome journey home(missed my connecting flight in Amsterdam, barely got on the next flight to Detroit, then snagged the last seat – first class, yo – on the Detroit-Tampa flight to arrive home some five hours later than I’d planned. And without my luggage. But I’m here home now and all is well!! Oh how wonderful it is to relax with Dad, Mom and Katharyn and enjoy this lovely vacation!
Yesterday was Dad’s 58th birthday!! So of course we celebrated in classic Hogan-style, complete with Pizza Hut and a few episodes of ’24’. How we do it! Dad and I finished up the evening watching the Oklahoma State(ranked #2) vs. Iowa State game…went down to 2OT with Iowa State pulling off the massive upset, complete with the field being rushed! A good birthday present to my dad, I’ll say! (Yes, Iowa State alumnus)
And now lunch smells almost complete – and how can I spend too much time on the computer when I can spend it with the fam here! – so I think I’ll be away. Before I do…some sweet verses I read this morning…(actually I would love to quote verbatim Psalms 37 and 38 in their entirety, but I’ll spare you)
Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgement as the noonday.
-Ps. 37:4-6
Oh glorious verses! How I long to follow my God in all that I do – and for Him to bring forth righteousness in me as the rising sun! Oh bliss.
And I’m really off now. Love y’all.
Swallowed in the sea
Well, I *was* going to go to bed freakishly early tonight(say, around 9pm!!), but as happens many a night, I got distracted by a good book. Oops. I really should keep the books further from my bed.
Anyways, reading in “The Glory of Christ” by John Owen…and I got to say, as much of a struggle it sometimes is to wade through his gorgeously intricate paragraphs, it’s so worth it. Any of you that own this(hey, I can’t be the only one!) needs to read the last few pages of Chapter 10…amazingly beautiful. I don’t quote from books often here, but…
The due remembrance of what the blessed Lord Jesus hath done for us, of the ineffable love which was the spring, cause and fountain of what he so did – thoughts of the mercy, grace, peace and glory which he hath procured thereby – are the great and unconquerable motives to fix our faith, hope, trust and confidence in him.
His divine nature is the ground and warranty for our so doing. This is that from whence he is the due and proper object of all divine faith and worship. From the power and virtue thereof do we expect and receive all those things which in our believing on him we seek after; for none but God can bestow them on us, or work them in us. There is in all the actings of our faith on him, the voice of the confession of Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”
Oh lovely.
And I could go on quoting..but I shall refrain. For now!
Oh but… just thinking about another one of my favs…
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
And from this amazing truth does our love spring!
Adrift in raging seas
and lost in the maelstrom of silence
and seized in the chains of the poets
and drowning in rainbows.
Drowning yet grasping and
gasping and hoping and
praying and trying and
living yet dying.
Until there came a light,
the light that was a man
the man that was a lord
Our Lord and our God!
So no longer do we writhe,
and no longer do we write,
but still, but still, we sigh
in love, for love, divine.
Have a most glorious night, y’all!!
Hallelujah
Praise the LORD!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him according to
His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath
praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!
-Ps. 150
Praise the Lord!!!
Little children
And we know that the
Son of God has come,
and has given us understanding
so that we may know
Him who is true; and we
are in Him who is true, in
His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God
and eternal life.
-1 John 5:24
Love. Beauty.
If only our frail minds could grasp the full infinitude of the love of God!! Let our souls be awash in the knowledge of His love. Let our hearts dance and sing and glory!
Fire and rain
For the love of money
is a root of all sorts of evil,
and some by longing for it
have wandered away from
the faith and pierced
themselves with many
griefs.
But flee from these
things, you man of God,
and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love,
perseverance and
gentleness. Fight the
good fight of faith;
take hold of the
eternal life to which you
were called, and you made
the good confession in the
presence of many
witnesses.
I charge you in the
presence of God, who
gives life to all things, and
of Christ Jesus, who
testified the good
confession before Pontius
Pilate, that you keep the
commandment without
stain or reproach until the
appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which He will
bring about at the proper time –
He who is the blessed and
only Sovereign, the King of
kings and Lord of lords,
who alone possesses
immortality and dwells in
unapproachable light,
whom no man has seen or
can see. To Him be honor
and eternal dominion!
Amen.
Waterfalls
And here again we have a quick before-work update! Sitting here on this sunny Thursday morning, preparing for another day of oil-equipment-remanufacture-awesomeness(really, remind me to write a post someday explaining my job in great detail. Or not) as I enjoy my coffee and revel in the beauty of a new morning!
And I just realized this is my 365th post on livejournal. Only took me some seven years to get here!! It is sort of odd, because all the friends I started out with on livejournal are mostly gone. What does that mean that I’m still writing away, hm?
Oh and I was bemoaning my short commute today…at this rate, I’ll never get to finish the final song on the newest Rhapsody of Fire album(“From Chaos to Eternity” – epic title, neh?). Of course, the final song is some nineteen minutes long. Oh well, maybe there will be enough traffic tomorrow morning so that I can hear the whole song in one drive.
And enough randomness for the morning?
Time to work!
Oh by the way, the book of Matthew is awesome. Been enjoying it incredibly so lately. You all should read it. Right now.
Prepare your mind for action
So this morning is going to be interesting. Month-end shipments are upon us here at Cameron Aberdeen and everyone that knows how to close out invoices and ship equipment is either on holiday or in Houston on business…leaving the rest of us running around maniacally and me attempting to ensure everything that should be shipped out is shipped out. Cut-off for the end of the month is today at noon, so at 12:01 today, sighs will be heard all around.
O love the LORD, all you his godly ones!
The LORD preserves the faithful
and fully recompenses the proud doer.
Be strong and let your heart take courage,
all you who hope in the LORD.
-Psalm 31:23-24
And now, boys and girls…it’s go time.
Life Eternal
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived,
enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life
in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
But when the kindess of God our Saviour appeared,
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.
-Titus 3:3-7
Seven Pillars
The fear of the LORD is
the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of
the Holy One is understanding.
-Proverbs 9:10
If I could only always remember this!! There is a foolishness that masquerades as cleverness and there is a grave that masks itself with the ever sweeter perfume of piety and there is a well-paved path that leads to the gates of hell. And there is a wisdom that looks as folly and there is a grave that is empty and there is a little-trod path that leads to the presence of God Himself.
Oh, for the love of Jesus, who found us when we could not see! Oh for the love of Jesus, who knew us when we did not know Him! Oh for the love of Jesus, who saved us when we could not live! Oh for the love of Jesus, who lifted us when we could not move! Oh for the love of Jesus, who loved us when we could not love! Oh for the love of Jesus!!
Something Weird 