Author: Jim Cantelon

April 02, 2025

Recently a few personal friends have been diagnosed with serious illnesses. As is often the case these afflictions came on suddenly. From one day to the next they went from life as usual to what Shakespeare famously described as “a walking shadow who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more”. It’s brutal being blindsided by our mortality. The transitory nature of life is a key component in WOW’s vision for ministry to the dying. As mentioned in my last blog, the spectre of certain death is again rearing its ugly head in Africa due to the suspension of PEPFAR...

March 19, 2025

The recent decision by the White House to shut down USAID is having a chilling effect on WOW’s African ministry partners. For 25 years WOW has been on the forefront mobilizing local African churches in the care of orphans and widows victimized by HIV and AIDS. This has seen us engaged not only with this fatal disease but also with the opportunistic infections and poverty related afflictions that accompany the pandemic. And pandemic it is, even though HIV and AIDS has been on the back burner of global awareness since anti-retroviral medication (ARVs) arrived on the scene about 20 years ago. These...

March 05, 2025

Most of us may not want to admit it but we like being in control. Overlooking the constant impact of that which we can’t control (like our autonomic nervous system, our internal organ function, our general genetic makeup, etc, etc) we flatter ourselves with our self discipline, fitness and diet values, money management, social interactions, and on and on. We think we’re in control but, of course, we’re not. The book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible reminds us that pretty much every circumstance in our lives is “seasonal”: “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven....

February 19, 2025

I’m sitting by our fireplace in early morning with my Bible and a coffee. As the fire crackles I’m listening to a playlist of sacred music on Spotify. A group of nuns are singing the beautiful Prayer of St.Patrick by Margaret Rizza: “Calm Me Lord as You Calmed the Storm”. The lyrics are powerful: “Calm me Lord, as you calmed the storm Still me, Lord, keep me from harm Let all the tumult within me cease… Lord enfold me in your peace.” What a great prayer for us today. If ever the world and our hearts were in tumult it is now. So much seems to be out of control and many of us find ourselves praying...

February 05, 2025

Recently as I was researching the comments of Jewish rabbis on the biblical book of Genesis I came across a treatise on what one of them called,”The power of return”. His thesis was that God places a high value on repentance. His grace is catalyzed by the sinner who confesses and then turns his back on his sinful behaviour and turns back to God. The rabbi stressed that the Lord loves to forgive. Indeed He finds repentance irresistible. Our challenge with repentance is that our pride is offended not only by admitting we’re in the wrong but by the humility that it requires. We don’t like being...

January 22, 2025

As Los Angeles fires raze entire neighborhoods, the Middle East balances on a razor’s edge, Sudan’s millions face impending starvation, and America swears in a new/old president, we wonder what 2025 will bring. In the vortex of constant change we long for some sort of relief, a return to a semblance of equilibrium, a glimmer of hope for our troubled world. As I often do I turn to the scriptures. There I find hope- “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of...

January 08, 2025

The new year has come. Who knew we’d see 2025? I remember the prophets of doom warning that the 21st century might never come to pass. Now we’ve already lived a quarter century in this millennium. And, even though there are crises of magnitude everywhere, our world is still turning and there is hope. Nevertheless many of us saw/see room for improvement in our personal lives. Thus the ubiquitous “new years resolutions”, great intentions that soon are lost as we pick up where we left off in 2024. Perhaps the proven words of the book of Proverbs might encourage us: Trust in the Lord with all your...

December 25, 2024

I’m writing today (Christmas Eve) in the beautiful Laurentian Mountains of Quebec. We’re at the home of one of our sons. It’s snowing with about a metre already guaranteeing a white Christmas. It’s an idyllic setting. Our 12 grandchildren range in age from 24 to 8 and when we’re all together it’s raucous and fun with everyone speaking (loudly!) at once. And last night as we gathered the laughter and noise was at its peak. What was different about this gathering, however, was a moment or two when the kids grew quiet and thoughtful as they discussed the state of our/THEIR world. Theirs is a generation...

December 11, 2024

Christmas for millions around the globe is the highlight of the year. “Peace on earth, goodwill to men” springs from the intuitive knowledge of God that we all possess. There is an upward call in our souls. This may be the impetus throughout the ages to build churches with a steeple causing us to look above and reach for the heavens. Speaking of steeples, the sight of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, rising like a phoenix from the ashes after a 5 year restoration, its beauty, sanctity, and steeple rebuilt, amazed us all. In so many ways it symbolizes hope. Our war weary world needs to know...

November 27, 2024

There’s a lot to be said in terms of this era of the internet in which we live. Information, communication, and interaction globally is literally at our fingertips, our computers and smartphones connecting us instantly to the world. Indeed no generation in history has been so connected. The downside, of course, is that we’re also connected with a world in chaos with war, famine, and sorrow on sorrow. Little wonder we sometimes lie awake at night praying for peace. I often turn to the Psalms where King David, who authored many of them, reached out to the Lord for comfort. Psalm 91 is one of my...