Tag: verses

A Day Which Shall Live in Infamy

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A few random notes that I didn’t have time to write this morning (because I took all my time writing about my book!!)

Firstly – and I’m mostly sharing this so I can link it to Laura later, since she’s the only one who will appreciate! (Hi Laura!!) – last night had a dream about being at a Nightwish concert with Laura. It was a very weird concert apparently since…we were sitting somewhere up high and all the aisles sloped down to the stage at the bottom of the concert hall. Felt more like a concert hall for a symphony and not a metal show! And we were sitting, not rocking out in front. Terrible! As in the way of dreams, it started in the middle…at the point where we realized another singer was walking out for the next song and it turned out to be Tarja! We all started going crazy and chanting her name (or maybe I was the only one?) She sang one song with the band (and it apparently was a song that had been written after her departure, which I remember being slightly disappointed about…since she wasn’t singing a song that I knew with her voice!) and as soon as the song kicked into gear, I remember being simply thrilled. Just her voice made the song even more awesome than it already was. Hearing her sing a Nightwish song (even though I can’t remember which one?! I seem to remember it was one of their harder more recent songs…maybe Shudder Before the Beautiful?) was amazing and it was stunningly beautiful and I’m sad this can’t happen for real. After the song was over, the concert apparently had an intermission, which I didn’t know was a thing for metal shows. But again – dream! I decided I should walk down and say hi to Tarja, because. Laura and me walked down the sloping aisle to where she was chilling next to the stage, sitting on a monitor / speaker / box thing. Somehow no one else had the same idea to see her. It was just Tarja, Laura and I! I sheepishly said hello and she replied, “Hey you! Come here!” in that Tarja voice we all know and love. Gave me a hug and I asked her if I could get a picture with her. She of course said yes and I handed Laura my camera and we got a picture together…and then we went back to our seats to enjoy the rest of the show. Yes, that was literally my dream. It was a really fun dream. Pardon me sharing my dream here…but hey, couldn’t resist.

Secondly…I started reading Isaiah today. So excited!!! Simply love this book. It shall be truly wonderful these next weeks. Here are a few words that encouraged my soul this day:

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
says the Lord,
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
they will be white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they will be like wool.
If you consent and obey,
you will eat the best of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God speaks. Shall we listen? My heart is bound up in the love of my God.

Now it is lunch time…I shall write no more. Time to chomp down on some chicken and spinach wraps with my favorite Nando’s hot sauce. A wonderful lunch, yes? Yes.

Stamp out All the Fires, let Not a Spark escape

James HoganLeave a comment

Listen to this, O Job,
Stand and consider the wonders of God.
Do you know how God establishes them,
And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?
Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds,
The wonders of one perfect in knowledge,
You whose garments are hot,
When the land is still because of the south wind?
Can you, with Him, spread out the skies,
Strong as a molten mirror?
Teach us what we shall say to Him;
We cannot arrange our case because of darkness.
Shall it be told Him that I would speak?
Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies;
But the wind has passed and cleared them.
Out of the north comes golden splendour;
Around God is awesome majesty.
The Almighty – we cannot find Him;
He is exalted in power
And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.
Therefore men fear Him;
He does not regard any who are wise of heart.
-Job 37:14-24

Bread and Wine

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“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like
the covenant which I made with their fathers in
the day I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which
they broke, although I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
“But this is the covenant which I will make
with the house of Israel after those days,”
declares the Lord,
“I will put My law within them and
on their heart I will write it;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
They will not teach again, each man
his neighbor and each man his brother, saying,
‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them,”
declares the Lord,
“for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more.”

Mirror Universe

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Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,
and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the
sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading
away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the
reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted,
because it is removed in Christ.
But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;
but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
But we all,
with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror
the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory,
just as from the Lord,
the Spirit.

To Sleep,

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I sit at Starbucks right now with my mocha americano and I ponder the lovingkindesses of the Lord.

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
I stretch out my hands to You;
my soul longs for You, as a parched land.

Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails;
do not hide Your face from me,
or I will become like those who go down to the pit.

Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
for I trust in You;
teach me the way in which I should walk;
for to You I lift up my soul.
-Psalm 143:5-8

Lovely words which I read this morning.  I do still mean to read Hebrews at some point today, but my time flees, my time trickles away as sand in an hourglass.  I’m excited to start reading Hebrews soon though, since in my OT reading I am going through Exodus(and soon Leviticus) so will be so intriguing to be reading the ceremonial and moral law of the Hebrews compared to the work and glories of the gospel as revealed in Christ by the author of the book of Hebrews!  And seeing the faint glories of God that are proclaimed by the shadows of the past…praise be to God for the mysteries of the gospel that have been revealed through Jesus Christ our Lord and His tragic death and most shocking resurrection!!!

Now further – what shall I say?  I did mean to write this entry to chronicle a bit of the past day and I suppose I can do that (but quickly!).  Indeed yesterday was a marvelous day that was given to me by my Lord in which I was reminded of the love that is mine, both from my God and from my many dear friends with whom I have been blessed abundantly!  And while it mostly consisted of work(but at least it was Friday, so duties were not overly onerous!), it was delightful to come back to my place at the end of the day and relish a weekend ahead.  After my workout, I walked down to EQ and enjoyed an hour on the porch there, reading my new book(about mitochondria and their origins and function in the cell…yes I’m a nerd and yes I’m far too excited by the subject matter!!  …still waiting for them to mention farandolae…) and then I walked home.  Didn’t have any more free time then, for it was about time for Earnie and Peter to come over!  I really meant not to plan anything last night, but both of them made mention of the fact that we should get together so I acquiesced and a delightful evening was had.  Earnie brought drinks and Peter brought a cake(chocolate and vanilla with strawberries on top!!) and I picked up some Pizza Hut…and so we talked and ate and shared the highs and lows of our past year…and reminded ourselves of the goodness of the Lord in each other’s lives and it was beautiful.  And so did I get the quiet night I had anticipated?  No.  Did I get the early night’s sleep I expected?  A thousand times no, since I think I didn’t get to bed until after one!  Was I blessed muchly by the events of the evening?  A thousand times yes.

And then this morning, after a few hours sleep, I woke up and had a cup of coffee and a scant few minutes’ reading time…and then off to breakfast with Jake and Julian and Earnie…hours spent around a food-laden table, discussing our lives and our loves and the passion that fills our hearts to know Christ and to make Him known.  To have such godly and loving friends as I do…I hesitate to say I deserve any of this, for I truly don’t.  I only know that I treasure such moments, quiet morning talks with far too much coffee and an abundance of encouraging, uplifting and fruitful conversation.

Now I sit here at Starbucks.  And as my mocha americano lingers on the tongue, memories of wistful eyes and dark brown curls linger in the mind.  Yes yes, I shall not think over-long on this, but as Jake mentioned today about Katie being in his current bible study…she crossed my mind yet again.  But hey – she is not for me and all is well with my soul.

About time to go do some shopping and errands…and then looking forward to a brunch with Jules – I know not what we will talk about, but I do know that our time will be lovely, as it always is.  And tonight…Jared is coming over to hang out and watch the Lightning game together.  Game 5 of Eastern Finals…go Tampa Bay!!!  (Beat the Caps!  – words I almost never say!!)

I must fly, but as is noted in the many words above, I have been given far too much.  I am unworthy and unholy in oh so many ways.  But in the way that matters most, I am holy for I am forgiven.  I know a God who is far too beautiful for my mind to truly comprehend.  But I do strive to know Him yet more and more.  And I am known by a God who is far too beautiful to me.  It is a wonderous thing that I would be called a child of God.  And such I am.

Deepest peace and truest love.

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.

Golden Age

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Lovely weekend and not enough time to fully describe it as I enjoy my mocha americano this beautiful morning as the fresh light begins to seep in the windows but I shall at least mention the wonderful capstone of last night in which myself and Emily and Erica went and watched a showing of Casablanca at cinema and oh it was so wonderful seeing one of my all time favourite movies on the big screen with loads of other people and just being able to enjoy it as we laughed at the funny parts(mostly all of Claude Rains’ lines!) and enjoyed the deeply romantic and movingly patriotic themes woven throughout(and something I realised just now as I looked up the cast is how many of the actors are non-Americans which surely contributed to its emotion for so many of them were refugees from war-torn Europe and were from countries such as Russia and France and Austria-Hungary and Germany and some of them were Jewish and even had family members in concentration camps and so the emotion you see in this film in certain scenes is far from faked) and as I write this I realise it is only one sentence so far so I am determined to keep it that way and also have decided to finish sentence sans commas and it will be magnificent(my apologies) but I suppose I must confess the best part of the night was the conversation I had with Emily and Erica after the movie in the parking lot in which we discussed many things but all of them honestly and deeply and my heart was much encouraged by them and now I suppose I really shall close this sentence as it is far too long(but I think rather successful in its lack of commas) but wanted to share a few words that have been haunting my thoughts these past few weeks and been keeping me stuck in the same chapter for quite a while now and this not at all a bad thing and so as I sat on my couch this morning with blanket wrapped around me and read these words yet again just know how my soul was warmed and enlightened by the truth and by my regenerated heart understanding that these words are Real in the sense that little else is:

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though
the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
-Romans 8:9-11(oh what beautiful words – we are indwelt by the very Spirit of God)

Something Wonderful This Way Comes

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Some encouraging words that I read this morning. How good it is to rest in the love, wisdom and sovereignty of my God!

God understands its way,
and He knows its place.
For He looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
When He imparted weight to the wind
and meted out the waters by measure,
When He set a limit for the rain
and a course for the thunderbolt,
Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.
And to man He said,
“Behold, the fear of the Lord,
that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil
is understanding.”
-Job 28:23-28

A Dream Near Realised

James HoganLeave a comment

A lovely morning. The air is cool(for Texas!), the peppermint mocha is hot and I slowly wake up here at my desk. I much enjoyed my reading this morning…as I read a few chapters in 2 Samuel(the ark being brought into Jerusalem – oh how David celebrated at the glory of His God! And the promise of God that the Davidic kingdom would be…forever. A achingly sweet herald of Christ who is promised). Also read some in one of my favourite books – Hebrews. Oh how wonderful…it stirred my soul. And it reminded me that too often I let myself be distracted and weighed down by things that do not matter. Too often do I seek pleasure and satisfaction in the dregs of this world instead of looking to Him that sits at the right hand of God. Oh why does my passion wax and wane so? If only I could be consistent in my honour and love for Christ. I am weak. But gloriously, wondrously – my God is strong and holds me close. And on my commute – listened to some of one of Dominic’s old sermons on 2 Peter 2(coincidentally – the sermon that was preached the evening service the week Mom and Dad were in Aberdeen with me – what sweet memories I have of that time!!). Listening to Dominic preach on the grave dangers of false teaching and the high regard in which we should hold the truth of God’s revelation to us reminded me yet again how I am most insufficient in and of myself. Do I get angry at the slights that are constantly made against my Lord and God? Do I defend the honour of my Lord in my life with my thoughts, words and deeds? Sadly I must confess I am oh too imperfect. I am most unworthy. But – glory be to Christ – that matters not. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. For me.

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you;
and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is
good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods,
through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have
no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood
is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering
for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also,
that He might sanctify the people through His old blood,
suffered outside the gate.

So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
For here we do not have a lasting city,
but we are seeking the city which is to come.
-Hebrews 13:7-14

Renewed

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So I’ve been reading through Deuteronomy of late, and while I’ve known for a while how wonderful of a book it is…I think I appreciate it even more as I have read through it this past time! There are many reasons why this latest read has encouraged me, but I think I just appreciate the fact that the laws God gives are a reflection of who God is. And at the end of the day, obeying God is – as according to the words of Deut 12:28 – doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord Almighty. Do we truly care about what God thinks? We should long to obey and please Him – not because it will benefit us(though it will!), but because to obey God, pleases God. And as a child of my Father God, oh do I wish to please my Lord. A small excerpt from my Psalm reading this morning that echos my heart…

My soul cleaves to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.
I have told of my ways,
and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
Make me understand the way of Your precepts,
So I will meditate on Your wonders.
My soul weeps because of grief;
Strengthen me according to Your word.
Remove the false way from me,
And graciously grant me Your law.
I have chosen the faithful way;
I have placed Your ordinances before me.
I cling to Your testimonies;
O Lord, do not put me to shame!
I shall run the way of Your commandments,
For You will enlarge my heart.
-Psalm 119:25-32