Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Chocolate Doctrine

Photo by Jean Beaufort PublicDomainPictures.net

One of the wonderful things about chocolate (and there are many), is how well it pairs with other foods.

Chocolate seems to go well with just about everything. It marries happily with fruits like strawberries, raspberries, pears, cherries and bananas. It perfectly complements the flavours of nuts, such as peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, almonds and macadamia nuts.

Chocolate cheerfully coexists with citrus, coconut, ginger, caramel, coffee, dairy or mint. It has even been known to blend with the flavours of chili and meat in some Mexican dishes.

Some adventurous people claim that chocolate goes well with broccoli (well, perhaps…if you held the broccoli).

You’ve got to hand it to a food that is uncompromising about its own flavour yet harmonizes with such a wide variety of other substances.

Did you know that the Bible implies that we should be a bit like chocolate? Not in so many words, of course, but the concept is still there.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Golden at the Broken Places

Bowl repaired using Kintsugi method by artist Ruthann Hurwitz.
Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA-4.0

We all shudder at the sound of something breaking, don’t we? We can’t help but wince when we hear glass or crockery shattering into pieces on the floor.

Why do we have that involuntary reaction? Because we know that the object probably can’t be repaired: it’s likely to be damaged irreparably, and must be thrown away.

We’re wincing at the sound of loss.

But what if there were a way to not only put the pieces back together, but to make the object more beautiful than it was before, despite the breaks?

The Japanese long ago invented a way of doing just that, and have even made an art form of it. It’s called “Kintsugi,” which means “golden joinery.”

The process involves mending the cracks in pottery with gold lacquer. Instead of trying to hide the damaged areas, they are instead highlighted with something precious. The end result is a restored piece of pottery that is beautiful at the broken places.

But what happens if it’s not a piece of pottery that is broken, but a life? How can a shattered heart be put back together?

Long ago, God also devised a way to put the pieces of a broken life back together again. God doesn’t throw away broken people; they still have value to Him. He puts them back together again with the gold lacquer of His Son’s love and redemptive power.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

What Is Your Inukshuk?

Inukshuk Photo by Jsig9 on Pixabay

If you’re Canadian, you probably know what an inukshuk is.

If you’re not Canadian, then let me offer you my condolences. (Sorry! Just kidding!)

But seriously, as we Canadians celebrate our national birthday today, it seems apt to delve into the meaning behind this iconic symbol of the high north.

An inukshuk is a stone structure built by the Inuit and other peoples of the Arctic regions of North America. The stones may simply be stacked vertically, or they may take the form of a human figure.

The distinctive shape of the inukshuk is featured on the flag of Nunavut, a Canadian territory, and also served as the inspiration for the logo of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Inukshuks have been traditionally used by the Inuit people as landmarks for navigation, guideposts for travellers in a barren landscape. They might also mark out a sacred spot, or function as a commemorative sign.

I think we believers need “inukshuks” in our lives, don’t we?

Reminders of the things God has done for us, how far He’s brought us. Beacons to others travelling the same journey, showing them the path that leads to life.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

What’s in a Name?

Photo by Jill Wellington on Pixabay

As a gardener, I must admit that I prefer using the common or folk names for flowers.

These sometimes ancient names are often whimsical and enchanting. Who wouldn’t love calling flowers by such names as cherry pie plant, lady’s slipper, love-in-a-mist, baby blue eyes, bachelor’s button, quaker ladies, whirling butterflies, johnny-jump-up, busy lizzie, or candytuft? It makes the heart sing to use endearing names like these.

The scientific or botanical names for flowers, on the other hand, can seem daunting. They’re usually derived from Latin, and while they can give a more accurate description of what a plant’s nature is, they can sound a bit intimidating to my ears.

In fact, some botanical names actually sound like a disease:

“Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve got Scabiosa again.”

“That’s nothing! You should see my sister’s Myosotis: it’s rampant.”

“You don’t say! But did you hear about Kelly? She’s got Nepeta nervosa.”

“No! Is she seeing a psychiatrist for that?”

(In case you’re wondering, Scabiosa is the botanical name for the pincushion flower; you might know Myosotis better as the little blue forget-me-not; and Nepeta nervosa is a type of catmint.)

I’m so glad that we have the opportunity to use informal names for the flowers we cherish.

In the same way, believers have been given the great privilege of using a remarkably intimate name for God: “Abba Father.”

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Commander of the Universe Has Your Back

Canadian Army reservists train at Fort Pickett.
Photo from Virginia Guard Public Affairs.

Do you ever wish you had your own personal army?

It would come in handy, wouldn’t it, when your boss chews you out, or when someone cuts you off in traffic. Just summon your cavalry, and your tormentors would soon change their tune.

The Bible doesn’t promise us our own armed forces, but it does say that we can call on the name of the Commander of all the forces in the universe:

The Lord of Hosts.

This compound name for God is found over 270 times in Scripture. The Hebrew word for “hosts,” Sabaoth, can refer to human armies, angelic armies, or celestial bodies such as the sun, moon and stars. It’s a military term: God as Commander of all creation.

We see this name for God appear when David confronts Goliath. David says,

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Samuel 17:45)

Goliath must have wondered what David was talking about. The only army he could see, the Israelite army under King Saul, had been quaking in their boots for 40 days at the thought of confronting him in battle. And now here’s this kid with a slingshot talking about armies in the plural. Faced with David’s “threat,” Goliath might have thought, “Oh, yeah, you and whose army?” Famous last words, indeed!

Elisha and his servant were given the privilege of seeing God’s Heavenly armies. When they were surrounded by the Aramean army, Elisha prayed that his servant’s spiritual eyes would be opened. They were able to see the fiery multitudes of the Lord’s armies protecting them, the horses and chariots of fire. It was actually the Arameans who were surrounded! (2 Kings 6:17).

The title “Lord of Hosts” includes control over military forces, but it is also employed in Scripture to describe God’s power over every aspect of life…

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Why Is The Universe So Big?

Image from Pixexid

Have you ever wondered why the universe is so immensely big?

Astronomers at NASA suggest that the most distant objects in the universe are about 47 billion light years away from Earth. This would make the size of the observable universe about 94 billion light years across. (A light year is the distance light travels in one year, about 6 million million miles.)

But that just describes the extent of our observable limits. The universe is vastly larger than that, because it is expanding at a rapid rate.

If there is an “edge” to the universe, it’s expanding away from us faster than we could ever catch up. No matter how swift our spaceship, we would never hit a boundary of some kind.

So for all practical purposes, you could say that the universe is infinitely big.

But why did God create it this way?

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Mystery of the Larch Tree

Image by Сергей Шабанов from Pixabay

It’s easy to categorize trees, isn’t it?

Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the autumn. Coniferous trees bear cones and keep their needles throughout the year. It’s simple to tell them apart.

Case closed, right?

But what about the larch tree? It bears cones and has needles like a conifer, but the needles drop off each autumn like a deciduous tree.

So which is it, coniferous or deciduous?

The answer to this mystery is that it’s both at once. The larch tree is actually a “deciduous conifer.”

Larches fall into a special third category of tree. It’s a member of the pine family, and yet its wood is harder than pine wood; it’s more like the hardwood of deciduous trees. It has needles like a conifer, but they turn a golden yellow each autumn and drop off, like the leaves of a deciduous tree.

Larches are a rare combination of deciduous and coniferous, unique trees with characteristics of both.

You could say that larches are two things at the same time.

In the same way, you could say that Jesus was two things at once. Just as the larch is one tree with two natures, Jesus was one being with dual natures: both God and human.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

What Love Looks Like

The incomparable Taj Mahal, India

The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, is considered to be one of the world’s most beautiful buildings, and rightly so.

Built from white marble, it was commissioned in 1631 by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died that year giving birth to their fourteenth child.

For many in India and around the world, the Taj Mahal is an iconic symbol of love. Every stone and jewel used in its construction speaks of the tremendous affection the Shah had for his wife, and his grief at her passing. To many people, the Taj Mahal is the embodiment of love.

What does love look like to you?

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Polar Bear’s Secret

Image by flickrfavorites on Flickr

Pop quiz: What colour is a polar bear’s skin?

Did you guess “white”?

It’s the obvious answer, isn’t it, because their fur is white.

Surprisingly, though, you’d be wrong.

If you shaved a polar bear, you’d discover that it would look much like its cousin, the black bear.

That’s right: polar bears have black skin!

Don’t believe me? Here’s a clue: check out their noses and foot pads. They’re both black. Their thick fur so completely hides the blackness underneath that you’d never know it’s there.

Not only that, but polar bears’ fur isn’t actually white.

Pardon me?

It’s true! Their outer coat of fur consists of translucent hollow hairs that scatter and reflect visible light. These hairs have no white pigment, but merely appear white due to an optical trick involving the physics of light.

The polar bears certainly had us fooled, didn’t they?

And they’re not the only ones.

There are people whose lives have been so thoroughly changed by the gospel of Christ that you’d be shocked to discover their dark past.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Islands of Hope

Image of lighthouse on the coast of Newfoundland by Felix Dilly from Pixabay

Transoceanic plane travel has always been fraught with potential problems.

Fuel could run low or a plane could develop mechanic problems mid-flight. The pilots would need a place to set down, pronto.

But in the middle of the ocean, where is there to land?

That’s where islands come in.

There are some handy places to land even in the vast expanse of the oceans.

In the Pacific, islands such as Midway, Wake, and Hawaii are available. The Atlantic offers Iceland, the Azores, and Bermuda, among others.

Not least is Newfoundland, an island off the eastern coast of Canada. For decades its Gander airport was used as a refuelling stop for planes making the hop across the Atlantic. It’s also an emergency landing spot for aircraft in trouble.

Gander is perhaps best known for its role in accepting 38 diverted planes that had to set down during the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on 9/11, twenty-two years ago today. Over six thousand passengers were generously hosted by the surrounding communities until U.S. airspace was reopened, a story commemorated in the hit musical, “Come From Away.”

Gander was truly an island of hope during that time.

I think we can all be islands of hope for others.

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