Author: Jim Cantelon

Oct 1, 2025

Many times over the years Kathy and I have visited remote African villages where our local church volunteers are compassionately providing home-based care (HBC) for afflicted and/or dying orphans and widows. In the dust, heat, and adversities of disease and soul stressing poverty, these indomitable volunteers provide the loving extension of Jesus’ hands to “the least of these”, as he put it. They are truly agents of healing and hope. Many of them are widows themselves living on the edge. Some are living with HIV, their viral load managed by medication, and all are poor. But WOW, through our...

Sept 17, 2025

One of WOW’s ministry countries is Malawi in Southern Africa. It is the 4th poorest nation in that massive continent. Like most other African nations, over 50% of the population is under 30 yrs of age. Under educated and under employed, this huge number of young adults are an explosion waiting to happen, especially now in that a general election is about to take place. During the last election hundreds of young adults demonstrated against what they saw as a rigged process with stone throwing, burning tires on the roadways, and threatening unwary drivers with violence. We were caught in one of...

Sept 12, 2025

As I write our western world is still reeling from the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And, it’s been reported that the assassin has been taken into custody. All indicators point to a hate crime. Hatred has an energy all of its own. It’s like a malignant growth that accelerates as the one infected percolates in a poisonous cocktail of alienation, resentment, anger, and aggrievement. It kills the soul of the perpetrator even before he pulls the trigger and kills his target. The Bible tells us that the enemy of our souls is constantly at work seeking to kill and destroy. There’s always a link between...

Sept 03, 2025

Without doubt Jesus captured the essence of the prophetic message of the Old Testament when he responded to a young lawyer’s inquiry: what does God expect of us? Jesus said, “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31). First of all, Jesus declares there is one God. This was/is light to the idolatrous nations surrounding Israel whose gods were...

Aug 20, 2025

I visited recently with a friend who’s recovering from open heart surgery. He received 5(!) bypasses. This procedure was called “beating heart surgery” which means the surgeons operated while the heart continued to beat. Truly amazing. As we talked, our conversation turned to mutual friends who are going through health crises: battles with Parkinson’s, dementia, kidney failure, diabetes, arthritis, hearing loss etc, etc. We agreed that we’re all vulnerable regardless of age and that we are, indeed, “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). But we also remarked on human resilience and...

Aug 6, 2025

I was talking with an old friend who is/was also a pastor. Both of us have been in the ministry for over 50 years. We were discussing the common themes we have dealt with in the lives of our congregants. We referred to issues like domestic conflicts, loss of employment, illness, encroaching death from disease, concern about sons and daughters, spiritual needs, etc, etc. But underlying all these we agreed that for everyone, including ourselves, life brings burdens. Indeed, as the saying goes,” life happens”. Sometimes life breaks us. I could give so many examples of the brokenness...

July 23, 2025

In the gospel of Mark there is an interesting anecdote about children. Let me quote my comments on this passage from my book, Cantelon’s Casual Commentary: Jesus had a high view of [children], as he did of women…Mark tells us about Jesus and the little children. He mentions that Jesus and the disciples were “in the house”. He doesn’t tell us whose it was or where it was. Regardless, a crowd gathered and began to press in with their children hoping Jesus “would place his hands on them” in order to bless them. The guard-dog disciples tried to push them back, but Jesus, “indignant” at his disciples...

July 09, 2025

As I write there is an ongoing search for missing children and adults in the aftermath of the horrific floods in Texas. We’re all shocked and saddened by the loss of life, especially the little girls who were swept away from their idyllic summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River. It’s hard to comprehend how a river can rise 26 feet in only 45 minutes, from a meander to a torrent. It’s a grim reminder of the irresistible forces of nature that can suddenly overtake us. At times like this there is the predictable call for “thoughts and prayers”. And rightly so. It’s an indication of the...

June 25, 2025

As I write our world is fraught. None of us has lived on the cusp of international disaster before. This is new and it is scary. I turn to scripture for guidance and comfort and the following stands out: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust… Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels...

June 11, 2025

I’ve been connecting recently with an old friend who has just gone through a serious medical crisis and surgery. As we’ve conversed it has struck me again that in the midst of ongoing global dramas, both geopolitical and environmental, there are daily stresses suffered by all of us personally. Most relate to health and some to random accidents but all have impact. Suddenly we may be in a hospital bed surrounded by medical personnel and concerned family members and the vulnerabilities of life take centre stage. We’re thrown physically, emotionally, and spiritually, face to face with our mortality....