Jim’s Blog

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 […]

2024 has arrived with all the hope and optimism that usually accompanies a new year. Mind you the hype is more than a bit muted in that 2023 was so fraught with sorrow. The wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Yemen, accompanied by volcanos, earthquakes, droughts, and various ecological crises have left […]

I think most of us find the angelic song, “Peace on earth good will to men”, which they sang over the hills surrounding Bethlehem a bit of an unrealizable hope in these troubled days. It seems that chaos on earth has eclipsed the heavenly choir’s rejoicing at our saviour’s birth. Wherever we look we see […]

Among the several(!)books I’m currently reading is “Church History in Plain Language” by prof Bruce Shelley. It’s a great overview of both church and world history written in everyday terms. His description of the tumultuous Middle Ages (6th -16th centuries) can be captured in a few sentences when he quotes Pope Gregory’s sermonic lament at […]

Recently my wife Kathy and I drove from Toronto Canada to Dallas Texas USA to spend a few days with our daughter Kate and her family. We drove because we love driving adventures. We spend enough time flying to Africa with WOW so we always prefer ground transportation! We commented more than once on the […]

I was in studio yesterday recording December’s “Jim Cantelon Today” TV shows. Currently I’m in the book of Matthew and presenting Jesus’ teaching on prayer in his “Sermon On the Mount”. It’s the best template for prayer from the Son of God Himself. It is timeless and covers everything. Indeed it is totally relevant to […]

There’s no denying “the elephant in the room”- the turmoil in the Middle East. It’s troubling, polarizing, and painful. For our family it’s personal because Jerusalem is our hometown. We lived there for seven years, planted King of Kings Church in the heart of the city, raised our children and thrived in its history, culture, […]

As Westerners we tend to think our ways are best. We are often guilty of seeing poorer, developing nations in a dim light, in need of our superior expertise in the “art” of civilization. Sometimes with the purist of intentions we condescend. It’s more than a wake-up call however to immerse oneself in one of […]

Kathy and I recently visited a child-headed household in a remote rural village in Malawi Africa. Our WOW ministry has taken us to hundreds of similar situations over the past 23 years yet this visit touched us deeply. Sitting on the ground at the entrance of her one room mud-brick home was a small 16 […]