Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Yes, Virginia, There Really Is A Jesus Christ!

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

If you still believe in Santa Claus, please avert your eyes from the screen right now.

I’ll wait.

For the rest of you, how old were you when you realized that there wasn’t really a Santa Claus?

Five or six? Nine or ten? Thirty?

For me, the realization came on bit by bit over the years when I was little.

First off, on the gift tags on my Christmas presents, I noticed that the “To Lori, Love Santa” inscription was written in handwriting that looked an awful lot like my Mom’s. In fact, exactly like hers. I realized that it was, in fact, my Mom’s handwriting, not Santa’s.

That was my first inkling that something was up with this whole Santa thing.

Later on, I saw a notice in the newspaper that Santa would be visiting the Eaton Centre, a major mall in downtown Toronto. I was so excited! I could get my picture taken with the real Santa!

But then I saw another ad touting Santa’s visit to another mall on the same day. At the exact same time. How could Santa be in two places at once? That seemed a bit fishy to me. It slowly dawned on me that it wasn’t really Santa, but merely regular people in Santa costumes.

As an older but wiser young person, I came to discover that a lot of people I’d thought were real were in fact fictitious. Not just Santa and the Tooth Fairy, but others as well. There isn’t even a real Betty Crocker—she’s merely a creation of advertisers.

It’s always disillusioning when you discover that something you once believed in isn’t true after all.

But how comforting it is to know that there really was a Jesus Christ.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Master of Disguise

What’s the best Halloween costume you’ve ever seen (or worn)?

I’m particularly fond of costumes involving puns.

Like the fellow who wore a tuxedo with the word “Sorry” pinned to his shirt and went out trick-or-treating as “a formal apology.”

Or the lady who taped a dozen photocopies of pictures of her cat to her shirt. Alert people recognized her costume as that of a “copy cat.”

A simple and clever Halloween costume involves wearing a Groucho Marx-style fake nose and glasses combo, along with a name tag that reads: “Blessing.” This makes you a “blessing in disguise”!

Did you know that Jesus occasionally appeared “in disguise”?

There were a few times after Jesus’ resurrection when His friends didn’t immediately recognize Him. It seems His identity was obscured from them temporarily.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Cats and Dogs

Image by Chiriac Ciprian from Pixabay

When two people couldn’t be more different, we say they’re like night and day, or chalk and cheese.

Comparing people who are unalike to cats and dogs can also be apt. There are several notable differences between these species of our furry friends:

They say dog is man’s best friend. If so, then a cat is man’s strange, aloof roommate.

Owners train their dogs. Cats train their owners.

Dogs don’t mind it when you dress them in silly clothing. Cats give you murderous looks if you so much as attempt to put a hat on them.

Dogs look at their owners and think: “These people feed, shelter and love me: they must be gods!”

Cats look at their owners and think: “These people feed, shelter and love me: I must be a god!”

But perhaps cats and dogs have more in common than we might think.

They both come running when they hear the can opener. They both know who in the family has the most comfortable lap. And they both show their love by licking you and shedding their fur on you.

There are two people in the Bible, who, at first glance, couldn’t seem to be more different: Simeon and the thief on the cross. Both of their stories are found in the Book of Luke.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Nick of Time

Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay

Do you know the feeling of relief you get when you get something important accomplished with barely a minute to spare?

Perhaps you realize at the eleventh hour that today is actually your wedding anniversary, and you haven’t yet bought a present for your spouse. But you race over to the store and manage to find the perfect gift just before they close. Crisis averted!

Or maybe you have to give a crucial presentation at work, but you’re stuck in traffic. So you take every shortcut you know and, lo and behold, you slide into the office as the clock strikes 9 AM. Your boss never knows how close you came to being late.

I imagine the thief on the cross knew this feeling.

When we speak of the “thief on the cross,” we’re referring to one of the two criminals between whom Jesus was crucified.

This is the one who said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Jesus assured him that that very day he would be with Him in Paradise.

Talk about being in the nick of time!

The thief was dying an excruciating death. He probably only had a few hours left to live. Yet even at that late hour, he professed faith in Jesus and was accepted.

His story is often given as an example of how it’s never too late to turn to God, and that’s certainly true.

But I wonder if there’s more we can glean from the account of the thief on the cross?

There’s a question that’s always niggled at me: how did he know that Jesus was indeed Lord?

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Promise of Return

Photo of Monarch butterfly by Peter Miller on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND-2.0

One of the greatest natural events on Earth is now underway: the migration of the monarch butterfly.

Each fall, millions of these colourful insects set off from their summer breeding grounds in the northeastern U.S. and Canada for a gruelling journey. They travel thousands of miles across North America all the way to Mexico, where they’ll spend the winter.

Many people believe that the monarch butterflies that leave in the fall are the same ones that arrive back in the spring, but this isn’t so. Individual butterflies don’t make the entire round-trip journey. The ones that migrate from the northeastern part of North America in fall will never return.

Rather, their great-great-grandchildren are the ones who will arrive the following spring, as successive generations keep making their way north. The entire annual migration cycle of the monarch takes about four generations.

Perhaps I’m being fanciful, but I can imagine monarch butterflies telling their children of the awesome journey they’ll be undertaking. They may say that they’ll only be able to go part of the way with them, but to keep the faith and keep going.

Maybe they encourage their children to tell successive generations to keep believing in the promise of return. Because eventually, their descendants will see the promise fulfilled.

Aren’t we in a similar situation as believers?

We’re living in a time when we’re awaiting the fulfillment of a promise, the promise of Christ’s return. We’re not sure exactly when Christ will come back to Earth, but He has promised that He will.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

The Ultimate Makeover

Photo by Neriman Özaydın via Pexels

We all love before-and-after transformations, don’t we?

The dramatic TV makeover that transforms a Plain Jane into a femme fatale.

Or the renovation that turns a dated, nondescript room into something fit for the pages of “House Beautiful” magazine.

But TV shows and magazines aren’t the only places to find dramatic makeovers.

There are astonishing before-and-after changes in the Bible, too.

One example of this is found in Peter, the brash, impulsive disciple of Jesus. A bit hot-headed, Peter was often afflicted by “foot-in-mouth” disease.

When we first meet Peter, he’s working as a fisherman. When Jesus provides the group with a miraculous catch of fish after they’d worked all night and caught nothing, Peter is scared. He says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ((Luke 5:1-10)

The demonstration of Jesus’ holiness and miracle-working power leaves Peter shaken.

Another snapshot of Peter is seen when he and the disciples are in a boat with Jesus. A storm whips up and they are afraid for their lives; Jesus, however, is asleep. Peter and the others wake Jesus up and say, “Don’t you care that we’re about to die?” (Matthew 8:23-27)

The prospect of imminent death rattles Peter.

Our last view of Peter occurs when Jesus has been arrested. Peter skulks around to see what will become of him while at the same time trying to disassociate himself from Jesus. When a of couple servant girls insist that he was definitely a friend of Jesus, Peter doesn’t have the courage to admit it. (Matthew 26:69-74)

The possibility of getting in trouble compels Peter to clam up about the truth.

But what a difference a day makes!

I’m referring, of course, to Resurrection day!

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Unsung Heroes

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

Ever had a time when all your plans were upended?

Joseph certainly did.

The man who would become the earthly father of Jesus probably had his life all mapped out.

He thought he’d get married to Mary, settle in Nazareth with her, have a posse of kids, and build his business. He could probably foresee how his life would unfold over the ensuing decades.

But then God stepped in.

First Joseph had to deal with the jaw-dropping news that an angel told Mary that she would bear the Messiah. Joseph was told by a divine messenger to go ahead with the marriage, despite tongues wagging in town about his being cuckolded by some other man. No doubt Joseph hadn’t figured his married life would start out this way.

Then the couple had to travel to Bethlehem to be counted in a census. While there, Mary delivered her child in a stable. Joseph certainly never thought this was how a child of his would be born.

The next thing you know, the young family had to flee to Egypt to escape those who wanted to murder Jesus. I’m sure Joseph hadn’t banked on having to travel to a foreign country to evade capture by the authorities.

At every turn, Joseph’s life and plans were upended.

And yet he’s something of a hero in the Christmas story, albeit an unsung one.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Of Lions And Lambs

Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Do you have some weather sayings or proverbs in your area?

Maybe you’ve heard ones like “April showers bring May flowers,” or “Clear moon, frost soon.”

Perhaps you know this weather proverb: “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”

Here in the northern hemisphere, we say “March comes in like a lion but goes out like a lamb.”

This saying might have started out referring to the stars. The beginning of March sees the constellation Leo (the lion) rising in the east. The end of the month features the constellation Aries (the ram or lamb) setting in the west.

Over time, the saying shifted to have more of a weather connotation. The start of March is often cold and stormy, fierce like a lion. By the end of the month, the weather has turned more calm and gentle, almost lamb-like.

This weather proverb doesn’t always hold true, of course; sometimes March starts out like a lamb but ends like a ferocious lion!

There is, however, a Biblical promise about these two animals that you can bank on:

Jesus came to earth first as a lamb, but will return as a lion.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

One Hundred Words for Snow (and for God)

Image by Maurizio Ceol, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

They say that the Eskimo and Inuit peoples have over 100 words for snow.

Is this actually true, or is it just a cliché?

There has been heated debate on whether the Eskimos really do have that many distinct words for snow. I consulted Giles Whittell’s 2019 book “Snow: A Scientific and Cultural Exploration” for information.

Whittell refers to a recent contribution to the question by the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center. They determined that in Canada’s Nunavik region, the Inuit there have 53 distinct words for snow; in the Central Siberian Yupik dialect they counted 40.

Among the words listed in the Yupik dictionary are:

“kanevvluk” = fine snow
“navcaq” = snow formation about to collapse
“qanisqineq” = snow floating on water
“utvak” = snow carved in a block, as for an igloo

Clearly, those living in the extreme north do have far more words to describe snow than those who makes their homes farther south.

As Whittell says, “…people learn to describe in greatest detail what matters most to them.”

I suppose that the number of words a culture has to describe something tells us a great deal about the importance they place on it.

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Posted on by Lori Cartmell

Everyone Loves a Winner

Image by 7721622 from Pixabay

A funny thing happens in a city when one of its sports teams reaches the playoffs or finals.

Suddenly, everyone becomes a fan.

This is especially true if that team has suffered a trophy or title drought for a considerable length of time, perhaps decades.

The team’s fortunes become a topic of conversation everywhere in town. People talk about their team’s success while at work, in stores, or on transit. They speak with authority about the merits of certain players, or even about specific shots in particular games.

On any given day, people in town know exactly where their team stands, and how many games they need to win to achieve the championship title for that year.

My hometown of Toronto experienced this in 2019 when the Raptors won their first NBA title in the franchise’s history. Their victory was celebrated with a massive parade downtown, attended by millions.

I had friends who gushed about the Raptors’ success, then grinned sheepishly and admitted, “And I don’t even like basketball!”

Everyone loves a winner, don’t they?

But what happens when your team doesn’t produce the victory everyone is hoping for?

Jesus could tell us a thing or two about that.

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