Author: Jim Cantelon

My wife and I recently celebrated our 53rd(!) anniversary. Hard to believe it’s been that long. Seems like only a few years. Mind you there are those who see any marriage lasting more than 10 years as an anomaly. I remember a nurse  3 years ago who was doing a blood test saying,”50yrs ?! In my world that’s 5 marriages!” Then there was the waitress last year on our 52nd asking,” Do you mind if I ask how you’ve done it? When my girlfriends and I get together all we do is trash our husbands.” I have no glib answers. But what I can say is that a covenant is a commitment-a decision for life, a vision...

You’ve no doubt read about the school board in Utah who removed the Bible from their regional  libraries because of its “violent and vulgar”content. They opined that it was hurtful for their elementary school pupils. But now they’ve reversed that decision after significant pushback from parents. The fact is that the Bible, especially the Old Testament, pulls no punches in its descriptions of human behaviour. It’s a history book. One can find all kinds of disreputable and “hurtful” material in any and all history books in the libraries of the world. No need to target the scriptures. History is...

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...