Author: Jim Cantelon

I’m sitting in a church conference as I write( during a coffee break). I’ve just listened to an overview of 1200 Canadian churches’ strategy to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus. Pretty big vision! But that’s the point: vision. The Bible says that where there’s no vision people “cast off restraint”. Think about it…vision gives purpose and direction to life. Without it we’re simply coasting, navel gazing, and marking time. The famous author C.S.Lewis said his one fear as he aged was that he “merely continue”. And I totally agree. I’m not against retirement but I do value purposeful living,...

The daily posts re: Artificial Intelligence warn us that we are under threat of a takeover. A touch alarmist no? But the warnings are fuelled by fear and insecurity. In a world that appears under siege by war, climate change, and state failure we are truly vulnerable to worse case scenarios. Throw in the ubiquitous conspiracy theories and you have a perfect storm for anxiety. And after almost three years of Covid isolation we’re socially disconnected too. We’re out of balance. I often think of Jesus’ words re worry: “Think not what the morrow bringeth…sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof”.  In...

Like millions of others I watched the coronation of King Charles lll. It was gripping, must-see TV. The pomp and circumstance was appropriate and regal, the beauty of Westminster Cathedral awesome. The biggest impact for me was the biblical content of both liturgy and music. It was uplifting. I found myself moved to tears at times. The theme of “service” captured what is missing in most of our world’s ruling classes. Power, domination, corruption and even “kleptocracy” seem to be the motivation of dysfunctional leaders these days. Indeed “what’s in it for me” appears to be the underlying theme...

In a recent speaking engagement I referred to the resilience of the human spirit and our ability to both withstand and overcome adversity. I used the example of what I call the “giraffe tree”. On a wood lot property my wife and I used to own there was a very strangely shaped maple tree. It was tall, fully leaved, and magnificent. But it looked like a giraffe: straight for the first 20 feet, then the trunk branched out at almost 90 degrees like the neck before shooting upwards like the head of the iconic African animal. How did that happen I wondered? Then it occurred to me. An older tree had...

We’ve just celebrated Resurrection Day, the greatest day in the year for us Christians. It’s about hope, something dearly needed in these bleak days. Our world seems to be in turmoil everywhere. Indeed, reading or listening to the news is enough to depress anyone. Yet, there’s more good news out there than bad. It’s just that negative reports generate more readership (and $$$). The international church is stronger than it has ever been and the words of Jesus resonate: “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”. We must never forget that God is present and...

I preached recently in Lusaka Zambia. Pastor and Esther Reutter were our hosts. They’ve been in Zambia for 41 years. They arrived in 1982 with nothing but a vision to communicate the Gospel to the nation. They decided to start with what was “in their hand”, in this case Esther’s nursing credentials. They opened a small clinic for the poor and planted a church. It was a humble beginning. Today they care for over 40,000 patients in both urban and rural settings. Most of them are HIV positive. But there’s more. They built an orphanage, two schools, a university, a vocational training centre,...

No doubt we’re all troubled by the state of our world. Over 2000 years ago Jesus gave us fair warning: “ you will hear of wars and rumours of wars…nation against nation…kingdom against kingdom…famines, pestilences, and earthquakes…”(Mathew 24:6,7). The Old Testament character Job declared that “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward”.  The human condition seems always in turmoil. But, there’s a comforting word from Psalm 91: “He who dwells 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,...

I don’t think any of us can comprehend the heartbreak of thousands of families in Turkey and Syria who have been shattered by the recent earthquake. The visuals on the internet and news services are overwhelming, and the hard bitten journalists who heretofore have “seen everything” are clearly stricken with emotion as they report on what they are witnessing. The oppressing sadness of the rescue attempts in the rubble is broken with shouts of joy and even dancing from time to time as someone is miraculously pulled alive out of the flattened buildings. But the joy is short lived. The stench of...

I had an interesting conversation with a good friend the other day. We were talking about how small decisions can sometime have large consequences. Like where you’ll go to college, or who you’ll ask out on a date, or how you’ll choose what are called “core values” for your life. Sometimes we decide impulsively, other times intentionally. And then somewhere down the line we realize how naive we were and wish we could go back in time to choose differently. But there’s no going back. The grim reality is that our lives ultimately are built on the decisions we make, for good or for ill. As the old...

Most sports fans are aware of the dramatic event which occurred during the Buffalo Bills vs Cincinnati Bengals NFL game a few weeks ago. Defensive half Demar Hamlin collapsed with cardiac arrest after a routine tackle. Millions of us watched with great concern as the medical professionals administered CPR while members of both teams openly wept and prayed. Indeed, one of the iconic pictures of those dramatic moments is that of the Bills and Bengals teams kneeling in a circle of prayer. The next day when it was announced that Hamlin had regained consciousness in hospital it’s reported that Josh...

It’s a new year, time for resolutions, no? We all have them. Mainly because we can all see room for improvement. Unfortunately, many of them are unsustainable without major revisions of our core values, habits, and inherent resistance to change. Nevertheless, we’ve got a blank slate in 2023 and we’re keen to make a fresh start. Our world certainly needs a fresh start. Whether it’s the ongoing health crises (Covid variants, RSV, Flu etc) or the current 100 plus armed conflicts raging in our world with Russia/Ukraine the foremost, we live in troubled times. Yet we continue to hope for better days....

I was looking at an old photo album my mother put together 50 years ago. In it was a black and white “Brownie” camera picture of my 4 year old brother and me at 5 wearing “Rudolph the reindeer” pyjamas beside a small artificial Christmas tree in our home in Kelvington, Saskatchewan. We’re both smiling, holding up small toys in our hands. Our family’s poverty was unknown to us. Dad pastored a small church in town that kept us below the poverty line, but in our home there was no complaining. I never overheard my parents bemoaning their plight. Instead I heard a lot of thanksgiving and praise to...