cazlentblog22

 Last Saturday I finished my Jo Jingles classes for the term, on Sunday I was organising the creche in church.  On Monday I did an extra bonus Jo Jingles class for the Mother and Tots run by church.  On Tuesday and Wednesday I was helping out at the church Kids Easter holiday scheme.  Thursday I managed to grab a coffee with Denise in the afternoon before heading off to the Egg hunt organised by church ( dramatic rendition of Easter story acted out round the football pitch followed by egg painting and a room full of Easter chicks, ducklings, rabbits, chinchillas and a couple of rats.)   On Friday I stayed in bed pretty much all day.  I really am getting too old for a full on week of kids stuff !!   One of the good things about spending a week talking to kids about Easter is that you are reminded of the simplicity and the complexity of the events of that week 2000 years ago.  On the one hand we see that Jesus was not guilty but He was cha...

 If Jesus is the Light of the world, then how come there is so much darkness?  Where is Jesus in Mariupol?  Where was Jesus during Covid?   We know He is always there but so often it seems hard to see Him.  His light is so bright and His presence so vast how can it be that sometimes we cant see Him? Perhaps the reason is something like this......... The moon is tiny in comparison with the sun.  Its a speck.  Of no significance whatsoever.  And yet when it gets itself in between the sun and the earth it can blot out the light and warmth of that huge star and plunge us into darkness. This is a picture of what Satan does, He is insignificant compared with the might and majesty and power of God.  Utterly meaningless. He has no power, no light, no warmth and nothing at all that can do us any good.   His main objective is to get himself between us and God so that the lights go out and darkness descends.   I have friends who are in a ...

  On Friday as I was putting stuff into the boot of the car I jagged my leg on something and felt a sharp pain as whatever it was went through my trousers and into my skin.  It was sore for a few minutes but by the time Id got home I had forgotten all about it.   When I got undressed that night I realised that Id actually broken the skin, just a tiny bit.  Im always amazed how something can damage the person without actually damaging the clothing.  No holes in the trousers, just a hole in my leg!!!   Today, a few days on, and there is a considerable bruise around the site of the scratch.   As I glanced at it in the mirror today I just heard the words ' bruised for our transgressions'  and I realised that I really didnt have a clue what that means.  This is how God speaks to me.  He very often points me to words or phrases which I think I understand and shows me that I dont really.   So as I write Im going to do a...

 Keith and I have been binge watching The Last Kingdom on Netflix for the past couple of weeks.  Saxon vs Vikings in the time of Alfred the Great.  Ancient British history loosely used as a backdrop for stories of wars and passion and loyalty and brotherhood, identity and ......destiny.   At the start of each episode there's a voiceover recap of what has gone before which always ends with the words ( spoken in a germanic accent) Destiny Is All!   Keith and I have started saying this to each other over the washing up or whilst making dinner.  Its a bit of a catchy catchphrase. But actually, its more than that.  Its a philosophy which the ancients adhered to because they believed that God ( or the gods) had a plan of action.   They also had so much more of a focus on the afterlife than we do.  For most people who have walked the earth up until about 150 years ago, the notion of life after death was important and urgent and to be ...

 There are very few things that make me raging mad.  Bad manners is one of them.  There is absolutely no excuse for rudeness or care-less-ness when it comes to the way we deal with other people.  The reason Im thinking about this today is because Ive just been on the receiving end of bad manners and the person concerned didnt even realise they had offended me. Now I do recognise that it is entirely my choice to be offended.  Its a bad choice and I should be much more gracious and forgiving.  But Im just not.  I get cross when I see something which is as simple as a please, a thank you, a door held open, an offer of help with something, a recognition of effort expended NOT forthcoming.   Grrrrrrrrrr. As I was stewing in my own grumpiness I started wondering why it is that manners are so important to us.  I work with very young children and everywhere I go, all the time, adults are instilling in them the need to say please and thank you....

Apparently one of the oldest musical instruments to be discovered dates back 40,000 years and has been found on three separate continents.  Its a set of rocks which can be hit with another rock to make different sounds - a stone xylophone if you will.  Almost as ancient are the hollowed out bones with holes drilled in them which have been discovered all over the place indicating that people were making music long before they were doing most other things.  Like living in houses or farming or writing or pretty much anything else.   Why?  Most things people do are done for some practical reason.  Our ancestors developed skills in order to either defend themselves, grow more or better food, or make life more comfortable in some way.  But the playing of music and the making of musical instruments does nothing 'useful'.  The only use I can think of for making music might be the singing of a mother to soothe her child.  Or possibly the chanting...