Author: Jim Cantelon

I don’t know about you but I’m more than a little tired with the glut of conspiracy theories out there. Whether about vaccines, politics, environment, or culture wars, a kind of social media swampland is incubating an ecosystem of fear. Indeed, it’s fear that fuels conspiracies. When someone with almost evangelical fervour tries to convince me of a current conspiracy I ask, “So what are you afraid of?” When I was a teenager my dad once said to me, “Fear God and nothing else”, and then reminded me that “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”. I was rereading the book of Isaiah recently and...

St.Paul, who wrote several letters to churches he planted and to young leaders he appointed to pastor them, had two key messages that have stood the test of time. The foremost of the two was his gospel (in four points): Christ died Christ was buried Christ rose from the dead He appeared to many witnesses. His 15th chapter of the first letter of Corinthians stresses the resurrection, “if Christ be not risen our faith is in vain”. Indeed, Christian faith is rooted in history. The tomb is empty. The second was his quotation from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk 2:4, “the just shall live by...

In a 1968 BBC interview with JRR Tolkien, the author of “The Lord of the Rings”, Tolkien stated that “human stories are ultimately about one thing-death”. He read a quote from Simone de Beauvoir where she writes about her mother’s hanging on to life in the last few days before she died. “There’s no such thing as a natural death,” she writes. “Nothing that happens to a man is ever natural, since his presence calls the world into question. All men must die: but for every man his death is an accident and, even if he knows it and consents to it, an unjustifiable violation.” “Well, you may agree...

“God or luck”, as former president Donald Trump put it, saved him from an assassin’s bullet in Pennsylvania on July 13th. God or luck. Not being an American nor a registered voter for either right or left-leaning parties, I’m not interested in political bias. What I am interested in is the “God or luck” polarity that is so reflective of our culture. At the risk of sounding like a theologian, I must say there’s a huge gap between God and luck. God is a person, luck is not. God is holy, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign and provident. He is creator of all that is. He is just and, most vital of...

According to a recent report, our world appears to be drowning in debt to the tune of 90 trillion(!) dollars. This amounts to 90% of the world economy. Economists are warning us that the day of reckoning is near. A global financial collapse will impact us all. There have always been doom and gloom reports, however. The “Henny Pennys” are always raising the alarm with their bleak theories. But, this seems to be different. Actual dollars eclipse the “possibilities” and even “probabilities” of theoretical economic science. At some point soon our world will have to “pay the piper”. If and when that...

This past week my wife and I attended not one but three funerals. The first one was for a 97-year-old woman we’ve known for over 50 years. Mother, grand and great mother, she was an elegant, refined, intelligent, and beautiful woman who exemplified the Proverbs 31 paragon of virtue. Her profound faith in the Lord is her lasting legacy, a point stressed again and again by those who delivered eulogies. The service was inspiring. The second funeral was equally inspiring. This was for an 87-year-old man who I’ve known for most of my life. He was someone whose profound impact on our world through...

When my wife Kathy and I incorporated “Visionledd” (now known as “WOW”-Working for Orphans and Widows) 25 years ago, we had no idea where this vision would take us. All we knew was that we felt led to do something about the HIV and AIDS pandemic that was decimating the population of young adults and children in sub-Saharan Africa. We had a vision for the churches of that vast region of countries to be engaged in care for orphans and widows who were dying in the thousands from this always fatal (at that time) disease. Our call was, “Every church a Mother Theresa”. If that little Albanian nun...

I saw a commercial the other day retailing a certain investment company whose tag line was,” A life well planned”. An appeal to our need for security and control always resonates. Yet… How often “the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft a-gley”, as the famous Scottish poet Robbie Burns wrote. Our strategies and intentions are so easily eclipsed by random events. Especially these days with so many international conflicts, environmental disasters, and volatile politics we can rightly feel our whole world is anything but “well planned”. The only comfort for men and women of faith is our trust...

We’ve all read the report on the sudden descent of a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore with one person dead and scores injured in the sudden fall. Apparently it hit turbulence and fell 6000 feet in a matter of minutes. People who were not wearing seatbelts were thrown all over the interior with many hitting the ceiling with their heads. Some of the most seriously injured were attendants standing in the aisles serving breakfast to the passengers. Fortunately the pilots were able to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. For those who fly, this event is disturbing to say the least....

I was a guest speaker at a church recently where the setting was inner city and the congregants bore the signs of “living rough”- some living on the street, others on welfare, and many the “working poor”. Compared to the poor that we minister to in Africa, they had/have much more in terms of a social safety net, but with economies of scale are just as vulnerable. Yet, in terms of spiritual sensitivity and love for God, they are on a parallel track. The service was sweet. The atmosphere was gentle and worshipful. The singing was soft but sincere. I felt the presence of the holy. Once again, I...