cazlentblog22

 The tomb is empty.  The promises are true.  The suffering was worth it.  There is a point to it all. There is more to life than this.  God is real.  He loves me.  Hallelujah! May your Easter Day be blessed with new revelation, lots of joy and maybe even some chocolate. Thank you for being a part of my Lent journey yet again this year.  It is always a challenge - in fact I think it gets harder every year.  But its always worthwhile because I always discover something new every time.  And your comments and observations always make me smile and think.   Lots of love Caz xx

 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...

  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends  John 15 ;13 Ive always loved a film or a book which celebrates a great friendship.  There is something lovely and romantic and touching about a great love story between a man and a woman - but a story of true friendship has a nobility and a strength about it which I find compelling.   One of my favourite films is Dead Poet's Society which tells of an inspiring English teacher in a very stuffy boys school and how he inspires his students to fall in love with poetry and discover who they really are.  It is a great film on many levels, but one of the things I really like about it is the friendships between the boys and the love they have for their teacher.  You see a developing devotion and understanding and fierce loyalty   growing in the boys as they wake up to the joys of being alive and throw off the shackles of repressive public school and parental expectations....

 Today I had in mind to write something about Mary anointing Jesus' s feet with perfume so I went to do a bit of reading up on the subject.  And I came across this article which I think is both interesting and well written.  So Im sharing it here as it seems a bit daft just to paraphrase it myself.   Thanks to the author of this post who has invited it to be shared. You may be familiar with the stories of Jesus being anointed with oil when reading through the Gospels. Reading the accounts in the different books could easily lead to think that they refer to the same instance, but closer inspection shows that there are, in fact, three different times recorded when this happened. Two of the instances where Jesus is anointed with oil take place in the days prior to His crucifixion. Is there any significance to him being anointed at these times? The two occasions    Close inspection of the accounts of Jesus being anointed with oil before ente...

 I am an incredibly blessed and fortunate person in that in all my 55 years on this planet I've never really suffered from any significant illness or injury.  I've only ever bee in hospital once for a minor procedure and can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've been ill ( glandular fever and chickenpox twice as a teenager)  Apart from one episode of about four months when I had chronic back pain I can say that I really don't know what it is like to live with a medical condition or ongoing pain or discomfort.  But yesterday I was in pain.  I've either done something to my foot or I've got plantar fasciitis .  After 4 Jo Jingles classes on Tuesday I came home barely able to put my foot to the floor and it got worse overnight.  Yesterday I limped through two classes and came home to spend the rest of the day with my foot on ice and the crutches to hand.  Im writing this lying in bed with my foot in a tubigrip bandage all dose up with paink...

 We are about to enter the week when we will be talking about The Easter Story.  Not long ago we were talking about The Christmas Story.   I have a bit of trouble with that word ' story'.   Because to me, the word story means something made up , fictional, invented.  And of course Christmas and Easter are as far away from made up and fictional as one could possibly get.   As the most real and factual and historical events that ever happened Im frustrated that we cant find better language to describe them than ' stories'.  Im not sure if its just an English language thing or if all languages describe the historical facts of the Bible as stories.  But we need to find a better word if we want an increasingly secular world to grasp the truth. Since the printing press was invented in 1440 it has been estimated that over 130 million books have been published. Another 400,000 are added each year ( give or take).  Not all of these will...

 ‘This, I think, is good’ he said, sitting back with a broad smile on his face. ‘ really very good indeed’ Those invited to the grand unveiling gathered round, open mouthed ‘It’s amazing! exclaimed one Murmurs of assent rose from the room ‘It’s so beautiful; but what is it  for ?’ ‘It is for me to enjoy.    It has been made by my hands and I have taken much care over it.    I am invested in this more than anything I have ever created’ he replied ‘What are you going to do with it?’ He looked around at them, a fondness in his eyes ‘This is very precious to me’    he spoke gently ‘I’m never going to let it out of my sight.    I shall never make another. It is unique’ They hadn’t ever    seen him like this before, many were deeply moved by his passion ‘I love it all’ he spoke again ‘ but this part here I love the most’ Many eyes strained to see the imperceptibly small part indicated ‘What exactly  is  that?’ asked one fro...

 When was the last time you went to a really good party?  For me it has been quite a long time.  I think maybe a few years ago when a surprise party was arranged for a friend who emigrated to America years ago.  Her family organised a huge secret get together of all sorts of people she hadn't seen for years and she had no idea it was happening.  It was great fun, both to be in on the surprise and to catch up with people I hadn't seen for ages.  There was food and dancing and loads of chat and everyone was super relaxed and happy.  Great.   The other party that comes to mind is the one we had for Sam's 8th or 9th birthday.  We took a squad of little boys up to grandmas farm and buried a box of ' treasure' which they had to locate by solving cues and then dig up.  They then all got to drive the tractor, play football and have burgers in the barn.  It was messy, cheap and the boys had the best time ever.  Which is surely what...

 This is one of those posts where I sit down to write with really not much of an idea of what Im going to say,  Ive spent the last ten days or so becoming increasingly involved in a TV show called The Last Kingdom on Netflix.  Its about Alfred the Great and is loosely based on the historical facts we know about him embroidered with lots of intertwining stories of love and war and ambition and the like.   As Alfred was ruling during the time of the Viking invasions you can imagine that large parts of the action involve sword wielding bloodletting and lots of blood curdling screams.  But what I like about it ( apart from the drop dead gorgeous leading man ) is the way the women are portrayed - as strong, brave, sensible and valued - and the way Christianity is portrayed.  Alfred being determined to create a Christian England in the face of pagan Vikings trying to take the nation for themselves. It is good to be reminded that at any point in our history t...