Faith & Friends July/August 2022

Biblical Family Feud

Emancipating Thoughts

Salvation Army Helps

JACOB AND ESAU P.8 BERMUDA PRAYER P.12 MAHMOOD’S STORY P.10

Faith&Friends I N S P I R AT I O N F O R L I V I N G

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Pet

Project

HOW ANGELA RAFUSE IS HELPING ELDERLY AND ILL PEOPLE FIND HOMES FOR THEIR BELOVED ANIMALS. P.16

Photo: PheelingsMedia/stock.Adobe.com

PAUSE

Wherever you are right now, stop for a moment.

If you’re sitting, put both feet flat on the floor.

And breathe.

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

—Matthew 11:28

Count to five as you gently breathe in, and five as you breathe out. Repeat this breathing process 10 times—or as many times as you like—and let your body relax. Breathing deeply activates our parasympathetic nervous system, calming our bodies and reducing feelings of stress and anxiety.

We all have times when we feel weary, and breathing exercises can help. But for true rest —the rest that refreshes and renews our souls— we can look to Jesus, whose love gives us peace and strength for each day.

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).

To find rest in Jesus this summer, visit our website at faithandfriends.ca or contact us at The Salvation Army Editorial Department, Overlea Blvd., Toronto ON M4H 1P4 2 • JULY/AUGUST 2022 2I faithandfriends.ca

July/August 2022

VOLUME 25 NUMBER 6

LAUGHING MATTERS 5

Star Struck Why should we fear anything when the God who created the universe loves us?

BAD TO THE BONE? 8

10

Jacob and Esau: Double Trouble A family feud leaves a surprising legacy.

SOMEONE CARES 10 Moving to Canada Alone

The Salvation Army gave Mahmood and his family hope.

FEATURES

12

16

COVER STORY

22

Emancipating My Thoughts

Can Bermudian Juanae Crockwell do more with her freedom?

Pet Project

How one woman is helping elderly and ill people find homes for their beloved animals.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Series premiere asks the question: What would you do if you knew the date and time of your death?

THE BOTTOM LINE

Cover photo: Southtide Photography

24 Rising Starrs

Chris and Donna Starr run their book business with God in the binding.

LITE STUFF 28 Eating Healthy With Erin

Sudoku, Quick Quiz, Word Search.

24

NIFTY THRIFTY 31 The Play’s the Thing

... wherein you’ll catch your children’s interest this summer. faithandfriends.ca I JULY/AUGUST 2022

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Faith&Friends

FROM THE EDITOR

Extraordinarily “Ordinary”

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hen Hannah Bing’s creative nonfiction class at University of King’s College in Halifax was assigned to write about someone “ordinary” doing something extraordinary, the journalism student knew exactly who she wanted to profile.

“I’d found out about Angela Rafuse and her cat, Mackenzie, through social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok,” Hannah says, “and I’ve followed them since April 2021, a month before they launched their My Grandfather’s Cat adoption service.”

As part of her assignment, Hannah met Angela—who works for The Salvation Army as a digital fundraising specialist—over coffee twice a week for hours at a time, and shadowed her and Mackenzie through their in-depth adoption process.

“Angela is a unique and genuine person,” Hannah sums up. “She has a strong and soft heart for every living thing around her, and her work ethic is unparalleled.”

The moment that stood out for Hannah was when she cold-called Angela one afternoon.

“Here I was, a total stranger, asking her if I could follow her around for five weeks and ask her all kinds of invasive questions,” Hannah says. “With zero hesitation, she said yes. I think it speaks a lot to Angela’s innate trust in people that she had enough faith in me and my talents to tell her story.”

Angela and Mackenzie’s story is on page 16.

Ken Ramstead 4 • JULY/AUGUST 2022

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Mission Statement To show Christ at work in the lives of real people, and to provide spiritual resources for those who are new to the Christian faith.

Faith & Friends is published bimonthly by: The Salvation Army 2 Overlea Blvd, Toronto Ontario, M4H 1P4 International Headquarters 101 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4P 4EP, England Brian Peddle, GENERAL Commissioner Floyd Tidd TERRITORIAL COMMANDER

Lt-Colonel John P. Murray SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS Geoff Moulton, DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND LITERARY SECRETARY

Pamela Richardson ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ken Ramstead, EDITOR

Kristin Ostensen MANAGING EDITOR OF SALVATIONIST AND SALVATIONIST.CA

Lisa Suroso GRAPHIC DESIGN SPECIALIST

Rivonny Luchas DIGITAL MEDIA SPECIALIST

Ada Leung CIRCULATION CO-ORDINATOR

Giselle Randall, Abbigail Oliver STAFF WRITERS Scripture Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are taken from New International Version Contact Us P. (416) 467-3188, F. (416) 422-6217 Websites faithandfriends.ca, salvationist.ca, salvationarmy.ca Email faithandfriends@salvationarmy.ca Subscription for one year: Canada $17 (includes GST/HST); U.S. $22; foreign $24 P. (416) 422-6119 circulation@salvationarmy.ca All articles are copyright The Salvation Army Canada & Bermuda and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064794 ISSN 1702-0131

Photo: Krzysztof Wiktor/stock.Adobe.com

Faith&Friends

LAUGHING MATTERS

Star Struck Why should we fear anything we face today when the God who created the universe loves us?

by Phil Callaway

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Faith&Friends

LAUGHING MATTERS

The largest star our telescopes have discovered is UY Scuti. If I was to name it, I’d call it YU Sohuge. PHIL CALLAWAY

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herlock Holmes and Dr. Watson decided to go on a camping trip. After a hot dog roast and some stories around the fire, they set up their tent and lay down for the night.

Hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his friend.

“Watson, look up at the sky. Tell me what you see.”

Watson replied, “I see millions of stars.”

“What does that tell you?”

Watson pondered a minute.

“Astronomically, it tells me there are billions of stars and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are minute.

Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.

What does it tell you, Holmes?”

Holmes was silent a minute, then replied: “That someone has stolen our tent!”

Bert and the Big Slipper As a child, I loved lying on my back on warm summer nights looking up

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at the stars. The night sky is a perfect canvas for a child’s imagination to scribble on. Were the stars looking back at me? What were they thinking? Could I reach them in a hot-air balloon?

My budding brain envisioned cities and civilizations out there.

Creatures with tentacles and big eyes hurtling toward us in flying saucers. Or perhaps the aliens were cute and cuddly. Maybe one would land in my backyard and my mom would let me keep it as a pet.

Sometimes my brothers pointed out constellations to me. “That big cluster over there is Bert the water buffalo. That long squiggly line with the scoop on the end? That’s the big slipper.”

A Matter of Perspective As the years passed, my fascination with the night sky only grew.

I learned that our humble little Milky Way galaxy contains somewhere between 100 and 200 billion stars. And if you leave the Milky Way, you’ll find billions upon billions of galaxies, so distant that you

couldn’t reach them in our fastest spaceship in a billion lifetimes.

Smart people say there might be as many as three sextillion stars in the universe. That’s a three followed by 23 zeros.

Our star, the sun, is so big you could barely squeeze 1.3 million Earths inside it. But as stars go, our sun is just a little fellow. The largest star our telescopes have discovered is UY Scuti. If I was to name it, I’d call it YU Sohuge. If you wrapped a measuring tape around Scuti, it would have to reach 4.7 billion miles—that’s 7.5 billion kilometres.

Scuti is an estimated 21 billion times the volume of our sun. Yet it’s only a tiny speck on God’s vast tapestry of space.

A View of Creation Each morning at breakfast, I read from a little devotional book, a collection of Bible verses.

This morning, it spoke of the stars. “The heavens are telling the glory of God. They are a marvelous display of His craftmanship. Since

earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of His existence and great eternal power. He never left Himself without a witness. Day and night, they keep on telling about God. Without a sound or word, silent in the skies, their message reaches out to all the world. When I look up into the night skies and see the work of Your fingers—the moon and the stars You have made—I cannot understand how You can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him.”

In 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth, circling it three times. As he gazed out the windows of Discovery, he said, “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith.”

Let’s take time to gaze at the stars this week. And let’s ask ourselves why we would fear anything we face today when the God who created all of this loves us.

(left) Phil Callaway’s Laugh Again radio program airs 700 times a week in Canada. Visit him at laughagain.org.

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Faith&Friends

BAD TO THE BONE?

Jacob and Esau: Double Trouble The twins’ relationship had seemingly been shattered forever. But God doesn’t know the word “impossible.”

by Jeanette Levellie

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saac was old, blind and near death.

He asked one of his sons, Esau, a hunter, to kill some game and prepare him a stew for his final meal.

Isaac promised to bless Esau after he’d eaten. In the ancient Jewish culture, a father’s blessing meant success and favour. When Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, overheard Isaac’s promise, she started to scheme. Esau’s twin, Jacob, was Rebekah’s favourite, and she wanted him to receive Isaac’s blessing. Rebekah instructed Jacob to bring her two young goats to cook for Isaac, so Jacob could present his dad the meal and receive the blessing.

Rebekah then disguised Jacob to feel and smell like Esau. Fooled by the ruse, Isaac gave Jacob his blessing. When Esau returned from the fields and brought his father the stew he’d prepared, Isaac told him, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing” (Genesis 27:35). Esau’s heart burned with hatred toward Jacob, and he made plans to kill Jacob

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after their father died.

On the outside, this situation seemed impossible for both Jacob and Esau. Jacob had to leave his homeland to avoid his brother’s rage. Esau lost his father’s blessing because of Jacob’s deceit. What good could possibly come from this family feud?

Decades-Long Anger Hearing of his brother’s anger, Jacob fled north to live with an uncle until Esau’s anger subsided. One night during his travels, God spoke to Jacob and promised that He would return Jacob to his family’s land, and that he and his descendants would one day own it. When Jacob awoke, he experienced a new awe of God and named the spot Bethel, which means “house of God.” Jacob lived with and worked for his uncle, Laban, for 20 years. By that time, he was an extremely wealthy man who owned huge flocks of cattle, sheep, goats, camels and donkeys.

What good could possibly come from this family feud?

IIllustration: Woodcut by Gustave Doré (1832-1883), courtesy of The Doré Bible Gallery

JEANETTE LEVELLIE

With God’s promise echoing in his heart, Jacob started for home.

But when the servants he’d sent ahead returned to say that Esau and 400 men were coming to meet him, Jacob panicked. Maybe 20 years wasn’t enough for Esau’s anger to cool.

Wrestling With God Hoping to pacify Esau, Jacob sent servants ahead with gifts of many herds and flocks. He stayed behind until he knew it was safe to proceed.

When the brothers finally met, Esau ran to Jacob, threw his arms around him and wept. Imagine Jacob’s surprise and relief that Esau no longer wanted revenge. Although Jacob offered his twin many gifts, Esau assured him, “I already have plenty, my brother” (Genesis 33:9).

God had blessed Esau with his own riches, even without a birthright.

Because God is timeless, He has a plan in place before trouble starts and a solution to every problem before they occur. Even problems we get ourselves into, like Jacob and Esau did. Although we may get off track, scheme and take matters into our own hands, when we turn to God for help, He surprises us with great mercy and perfect plans.

All about Jacob Read Genesis 27:33 • Who: The son of Isaac and Rebekah, grandson of Abraham • When: Around 1850 BC • Where: Canaan (modern-day Israel) and Mesopotamia (eastern Mediterranean)

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Faith&Friends

SOMEONE CARES

Giving Back Mahmood sorts food as a Salvation Army family services worker

Changed Life Mahmood became a Canadian citizen in April of this year

Moving to Canada Alone The Salvation Army gave Mahmood and his family hope.

by Linda Leigh

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hen Mahmood arrived with his family of five in Canada in 2017, he hoped they could finally feel safe. Four years earlier, he had no choice but to leave Iraq, relatives, his job and culture.

“In Iraq we faced danger,” says Mahmood. “There was war, our lives were threatened and no one was safe.

It was a very hard life.”

While the family lived in Turkey as refugees, the children weren’t allowed to go to school. Mahmood worked as

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a carpenter, earning barely enough for rent and basic food. Then a friend in Canada found them a sponsor.

Hope … and One Happy Boy “We arrived in Vancouver with a bag of clothes,” says Mahmood. “After we located a basement apartment to rent in Surrey, B.C., we lost our support network. We were alone, isolated and spoke no English.”

Mahmood went to school to learn English and searched the internet for

“In Iraq we faced danger.

Our lives were threatened. No one was safe.”

MAHMOOD

organizations who help newcomers.

He found someone who spoke Arabic and she made an appointment for him with The Salvation Army in Surrey.

“I showed the Salvation Army worker a picture of our apartment— no couches or tables, no beds. I couldn’t afford to provide complete meals for my family, let alone household items,” says Mahmood.

The Salvation Army gave him food, chocolate, a thrift store voucher to purchase furniture, school supplies for his three children and $150 to buy them toys.

“My son was so happy, he put all the toys beside his bed and didn’t sleep for two days,” smiles Mahmood.

Lives Changed In 2019, Mahmood and his family volunteered with The Salvation

Army’s Christmas kettle campaign.

In Surrey, where many people speak Arabic, Mahmood helped the Army’s community and family services by serving as a translator, and his wife, Noor, volunteers as the Army’s Arabic volunteer co-ordinator.

“We wanted to help others, like The Salvation Army helped us,” says Mahmood.

Before long, Mahmood used his computer skills to assist with client records. He was eventually hired and is now working full time as a family services worker.

“When I had nothing, The Salvation Army gave me hope,” says Mahmood. “They changed my whole life and my family’s life. We now live in a home. I have an income and a pay stub. Thanks to The Salvation Army, we are thriving as new members in our community.”

(left) Linda Leigh is manager of communications at The Salvation Army’s territorial headquarters in Toronto.

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Faith&Friends

FEATURE

Emancipating

My Thoughts

CAN I DO MORE WITH MY FREEDOM?

by Juanae Crockwell Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.*

A

ll Bermuda will pause on July 29 to remember the emancipation of slaves throughout the British Empire on August 1, 1834. The life and legacy of our national hero,

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Mary Prince, is celebrated the day after, on Mary Prince Day. As we do so, my thoughts turn to the kind of faith that must be required to fight for freedom.

who had a vision and hope of freedom—people who believed in something that they could not see.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.

Faith and Courage The magnitude of this faith is not forgotten when I think of the liberties I enjoy as a Black woman in Bermuda, 188 years after emancipation. I often ask myself if I have that same kind of faith. Do I have the same depth of faith as my forefathers and mothers? A faith that can move metaphorical mountains? A faith that develops nations? A faith that changes the world?

Photo: yujie/stock.Adobe.com

The March to Victory The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen (see Hebrews 11:1). I can only imagine the level of faith my ancestors had to be able to fight—for generations— for something only ever hoped for and unseen by so many.

The freedoms that we celebrate this weekend were hard won. And at the heart of the fight was a faith in a God that they believed would deliver us. They were likely to call it by different names and worship this God in different ways, but the strength of our ancestors’ faith was clearly apparent.

History tells us that most early abolitionists were white, religious Americans. And it’s true that there were several, but there were also many leaders of the abolitionist movement who were Black men and women, slaves and former slaves,

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Faith&Friends

FEATURE

As history has shown us, faith coupled with courage is a powerful thing.

JUANAE CROCKWELL

Or is my faith limited to the transformation of my own life? Is it limited to weekly worship, scriptural study and prayer? Am I willing to use this faith for a greater good?

Am I willing to put my faith into action?

When I think of freedom, I think of faith in action. A faith that a power greater than me—a power greater than all of us—will equip me for service. Because as history has shown us, faith coupled with courage is a powerful thing.

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

From Slavery to “National Hero” Of course, on this long celebratory weekend, I also reflect on Mary Prince, a local hero in Bermuda, a hero for the cause internationally and at home; a woman of courage, strength and—dare I say—a woman 14 • JULY/AUGUST 2022

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of faith. Her autobiography, The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, is filled with references to the prayers she prayed—prayers that “God will find a way to give me my liberty.”

But her prayers didn’t simply end in “Amen.” They manifested into action, action that contributed to the answer of her and countless other prayers for freedom. By adding a little courage to her faith, she was able to tell her story and expose the misconceptions about slavery in Bermuda, ultimately participating in the abolitionist movement at a global level, becoming the first female slave to publish an autobiography and earning her “national hero” status at home.

A Challenge All of this was the result of her faith in action. Activism, in whatever capacity you serve, is an act of faith.

A decision to plant seeds—mustard seeds, maybe—for trees whose shade you may never enjoy.

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

There is so much more work to be done. We are free, but still grappling with the impact of our enslavement.

So today, I challenge myself to do more with my freedom. I challenge myself to put a little more action behind my faith and believe that God is able to take my seemingly insignifi-

cant contributions and multiply them.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who hast by Thy might Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. *Excerpts from James Weldon Johnson’s poem, Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Reprinted from The Royal Gazette, August 2, 2021 (royalgazette.com)

“Excuse me, Jerry. You realize we are all here for ETERNITY. Do you think you can learn to play something else like ‘Baby Shark’?”

© J.Sanko/C. Layton, 2022

OH MY WORD!

by John Sanko

(left) Juanae Crockwell is the religious correspondent for The Royal Gazette in Hamilton, Bermuda

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COVER STORY

Photo: Southtide Photography

Faith&Friends

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Pet

Project HOW ONE WOMAN IS HELPING ELDERLY AND ILL PEOPLE FIND HOMES FOR THEIR BELOVED ANIMALS.

by Hannah Bing

ANGELA RAFUSE SAT AT THE WHITE

Terrific Twosome Angela Rafuse and Mackenzie

Ikea desk tucked into the corner of her childhood bedroom. She ended a Zoom meeting, sat back in her chair and opened her phone.

On that one day, May 18, 2021, she’d amassed 500,000 views, 600 emails and $5,000 in donations. Her eyes widened.

Angela never imagined that an idea she thought of in her parents’ basement, during a pandemic, would gain this much traction. faithandfriends.ca I JULY/AUGUST 2022

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Faith&Friends

COVER STORY

Photo: Southtide Photography

The Start Angela’s grandfather had passed away in December 2019. Shortly after that, she adopted his 15-yearold cat, Mackenzie. Due to Mackenzie’s grumpy personality, she knew she wouldn’t get adopted from a shelter. It would have to be someone from the family—and Angela was the only one willing to take her.

Once the pandemic hit, Angela and Mackenzie moved in with her parents. She started posting videos of Mackenzie and her on TikTok, Mackenzie often growling, hissing or cuddling, and they went to Tim Hortons for bacon. Some of her videos would get more than one million views.

Angela told viewers how she had recently adopted Mackenzie follow-

“Be the change.”

This is the mantra that Angela lives by.

HANNAH BING

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Cover Couple Angela and Mackenzie were recently spotlighted in People magazine

ing her grandfather’s death. People started expressing their concerns about what to do with their grandparents’ animals after they passed.

This prompted Angela to come up with a solution: My Grandfather’s Cat. She wanted an organization where seniors and terminally ill people could arrange a second home for their pets before they passed away or moved into an assistedliving facility. A date was set to launch My Grandfather’s Cat—May 18, her grandfather’s birthday.

Because she would not charge an adoption fee, her aim was to raise just $750. But five hours into the launch she ran upstairs to her parents, yelling that she had her first donation: $500. She and her mom both thought it was a mistake. They assumed the man in New York City who sent the donation probably meant to send $50, so Angela emailed him. He replied almost immediately, saying there was no mistake. He shared his story of having to put his grandparents’ cats in a shelter, and said he wished something like this had been around for him.

Wanting to Help People When the sun rises, so does Angela.

No matter the time of year, she is out of bed when the sun shines through her window. She is also a self-proclaimed workaholic. Her loved ones hide her phone at night

so she isn’t up checking email at all hours.

Angela grew up in Chester, N.S., with her parents and younger sister and moved to Halifax to attend Saint Mary’s University. She started an arts degree, but during her second year—after a friend said she wasn’t smart enough to go into business—she switched to a bachelor of commerce.

The best way to get Angela to do something is to tell her she can’t do it.

She graduated with a degree in global business management in 2016 but wasn’t sure what came next.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Angela says. “All I knew is that I wanted to help people.”

“I Should be Dead” After she graduated, she moved to Toronto, where she found work with The Salvation Army’s public relations department. In 2018, she was battling a mysterious illness that rendered her sick for almost four months. One morning, Angela got up to use the washroom and collapsed.

She woke up in the hospital with doctors rushing in and out of her room. She was told that her parents needed to be contacted; the doctors didn’t know what was wrong and they weren’t sure if she would leave the hospital alive. faithandfriends.ca I JULY/AUGUST 2022

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Photo: Southtide Photography

Faith&Friends

COVER STORY

She’s Got Her Back Angela and Mackenzie on a walk

By the time her mother arrived, there was a diagnosis: a severe case of pneumonia. The doctors told her mother that their best shot was antibiotics. If those didn’t kick in, in 48 hours she would be put in a medically induced coma.

Angela’s mother didn’t leave her daughter’s side. On hour 30, the medication started to work.

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at home.

The illness has had lasting impacts on her body. She was diagnosed with trauma-induced depression and has suffered from memory loss.

“Scientifically, I should be dead,” Angela says. “But sometimes I think I was kept alive for a reason, to do something. I don’t think I knew what it was until I started My Grandfather’s Cat.”

“The best way to get Angela to do something is to tell her she can’t do it.”

HANNAH BING

Be the Change These experiences led Angela to get a tattoo last year.

The tattoo gun was humming.

Angela sat in a chair, the aroma of antiseptic filling the room, waiting for the ink to mark her skin. She felt nervous and confident, hoping that the words would serve as a permanent reminder of this time in her life.

“Be the change.” This is the mantra that Angela lives by—and runs My Grandfather’s Cat by. (It was originally said by Mahatma Gandhi.)

She found herself thinking about “be the change” a lot in the weeks after the launch. More days than not she wanted to give up, overtaken by imposter syndrome and fear.

“I wanted to have something where I could remember this point in my life” she says, “where every single day was chaos.”

Dynamic Duo Today, Angela works at The Salvation Army as a digital fundraising specialist. Her passion for working for the Army, along with her faith, gave her the confidence to help more people in need and create My Grandfather’s Cat. Mackenzie is the other half of the organization, and together they have more than 400,000 TikTok followers. They’ve posted videos at the beach, where Mackenzie would run in her harness, make a bed in the sand and climb the rocks.

When they ventured onto the water and started kayaking, Angela was shocked when she realized how much Mackenzie loved it.

The cat would peer over the edge into the water, content and at peace.

Reprinted from The Signal, February 1, 2022.

(left) Hannah Bing is a Halifax-based writer who grew up in Nova Scotia. She loves writing about music, animals and her community. Her interests include cats, chai lattes and true crime podcasts. faithandfriends.ca I JULY/AUGUST 2022

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Faith&Friends

FEATURE

Star Trek:

Strange New Worlds SERIES PREMIERE ASKS THE QUESTION: WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU KNEW THE DATE AND TIME OF YOUR DEATH?

by Ken Ramstead

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hat’s the mission? Our mission? We explore.

We seek out new life and new civilizations. We boldly go where no one has gone before.”

So says Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), the captain of the USS Enterprise.

While previous incarnations of Star Trek have boldly gone where no one has gone before, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes place a decade before Captain James T. Kirk helmed the Enterprise. Captain Pike’s crew is a mixture of old and new faces for Trek fans: a younger Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), Pike’s second-in-command, are joined by newly minted Cadet Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). Just-transferred nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) joins chief medical officer Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun).

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Chong), and helmsman Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia).

Lethal Dilemma As the episode starts, Captain Pike is ordered on a mission—but he does not want to go.

“Send someone else,” he tells his superior, Starfleet Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes). “You don’t want me in command of that ship.”

Why is the normally fearless and intrepid Captain Pike so hesitant to lead the mission? Spock wants to know.

During their last mission, Captain Pike explains that he had been given a glimpse 10 years into the future.

“I saw my own death, Spock. At least, the death of the man I am now.

How will it live in me? Will it make me hesitant? Cautious? Not cautious enough? I’m already second-guessing myself. And that’s the last thing a captain can afford.”

Will Captain Pike succumb to

“ Send someone

else. You don’t want me in command of that ship.”

CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER PIKE

Photo: Courtesy of CBS Studios

paralysis or will he summon within himself the captain he knows he should be?

Living Gloriously What would you do if you were granted the knowledge of the day and time of your death? Would you decide to live for yourself hedonistically? Or would you use the time you had left to help others and live altruistically?

Outside of fiction, we only know of One who was faced with that predicament. Jesus knew the exact date and hour when He would die, and that it would happen by way of crucifixion, one of the most painful and agonizing means of execution that the ancient world could provide (see Matthew 26:2).

Jesus could be forgiven for asking that the cup of suffering He was to bear be passed away from Him.

And in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to His heavenly Father for just that—but only if it pleased God (see Matthew 26:36-44).

He could have run away or summoned up legions of angels to protect Him. Instead, Jesus changed not one moment and suffered ordeals beyond imagining. Jesus knew the stakes were high, but He also knew that His sacrifice would change the world.

We may never be faced with such knowledge because no one knows the hour and the day when we will pass.

So whether we are here on earth for one day, one year or one hundred years, we must live it the best we can, with love and kindness.

As Captain Pike says, looking death straight in the eye, “Life is to be worn gloriously. Because, till our last moment, the future’s what we make it.” faithandfriends.ca I JULY/AUGUST 2022

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Photos: Courtesy of Starr Bookworks

Faith&Friends

THE BOTTOM LINE

Binding Project Chris Starr in front of some of his restorations

Rising Starrs Chris and Donna Starr run their book business with God in the binding.

by Joyce Starr Macias

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“

paid a quarter for my first book,” Chris Starr says. It was a small volume by 19th-century English poet and hymnwriter Frances Ridley Havergal, entitled Kept for the Master’s Use. Chris never imagined that his hobby would turn into a fulltime business for himself, his wife, Donna, and their daughter, Samantha.

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DIY Restoration

It all started after Chris’ conversion to Christianity when he started going to a church where one of the pastors had an extensive collection of old religious volumes.

He had the desire, if not the wallet, for collecting his own rare and antique books. Chris was working as a truck mechanic while conducting street and prison ministry, and

Donna had become the financial administrator for their church.

“But we both have a deep love for books,” Donna smiles.

Their desire to learn led them to become regulars at antiquarian book fairs, gradually accumulating their own collection.

Many of the books they acquired needed restoration, but they couldn’t find anyone who knew how to do it properly. That drove Donna to learn how to do it herself. She began by experimenting on Chris’ books, taking some of them apart and figuring out how to fix them on her own.

She later studied at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut, for two years with Gisela Nowik, a conservator at Yale University’s rare books library. She also took classes at the Center for

Book Arts in New York City.

“We started off binding books just for ourselves and friends,” says Donna. “Then we did some work for a dealer. Before long, we had a business on our hands.” They officially became Starr Bookworks in 1991.

Both kept working their fulltime jobs and doing book repairs on the side. Chris finally quit his full-time job to concentrate on the book business, which at that time included buying and selling antique books online. As the bindery workload increased, Donna left her job, too.

Word-of-Mouth Success About 20 years ago, they moved themselves and Starr Bookworks from Connecticut to Arizona.

Across the breezeway from their house is an oversized two-car garage that became their new bindery.

The Starrs don’t broadcast their deep faith, but it shows up in their business practices. And that holds true even when it may result in a loss of income, such as when the estimated cost they quoted to a customer turns out to be too low.

(The job may be more extensive than expected or the cost of materials may have gone up.)

Man at Work Chris using a decorative roll

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THE BOTTOM LINE

Photos: Courtesy of Starr Bookworks

Faith&Friends

Telling a Book by its Cover Skins of calf and goat used for binding

Tools of the Trade Decorative rolls for tooling covers

“We have always stuck to the prices quoted, even when we lost money on a job,” Donna explains.

“In everything we do, we try to do the best work for a fair price. We’re not trying to get rich.”

Sometimes people who find an old book at a yard sale will assume they have uncovered a treasure. Chris says people who haven’t studied the market will assume that a pre-1800s book must be worth a lot of money just because it’s old. But the book usually isn’t worth the money they’d have to charge to repair it.

“We just tell them right out when

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it’s not worth it,” says Samantha, who gave up her job in the medical field 15 years ago to work full-time in the bindery.

It would be easy to do the work without telling the customer the truth about the book’s value, but that doesn’t happen at Starr Bookworks.

Chris says the only time they would repair a book that isn’t worth the price of repairs is when its sentimental value surpasses the dollarand-cents cost, like a volume that has been in a family for generations.

“In everything we do, we try to do the best work for a fair price. We’re not trying to get rich.”

DONNA STARR

“You should collect what you like, not always for a book’s value,” he states.

Even though the Starrs have lost money by turning down jobs in certain situations, they never run out of work. Donna said there is always a backlog waiting for them. And that’s without ever doing any advertising!

While their customers are primarily dealers and serious book collectors, they have always relied on word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers. Their website, starrbookworks.com, is limited to showing examples of work they’ve done without a strong pitch for more customers.

In-Demand Skill Repairing a beat-up rare or antique book requires a number of skills that include sewing, rebinding, page repair, leather-working and cover replacement. The Starrs even go through the tedious process of making their own marbleized paper for end sheets, and they make clamshell preservation cases that protect fragile books from exposure to the environment.

They use nothing but the best for

their restoration processes, including the finest leather they can find and acid-free paper.

Some repair jobs are easy while others require long hours to accomplish the treatment a badly damaged book requires.

The highest-priced book they ever worked on was a first edition Coverdale Bible that was valued at a little over half a million dollars. Another interesting project involved making a protective box for a 1611 King James Bible, complete with court seal. But neither of those is typical, nor would they keep books of that value at the bindery.

The market for rare and antique books is constantly changing.

Right now, early medical books and illustrated books on astronomy, architecture and science are bringing good prices for collectors.

But high-quality repairs are always needed by customers, so it’s unlikely that the Starr family will soon run out of work. Until then, they will continue living and working together.

“That in itself shows that God is at the centre of our business,” Samantha says.

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Faith&Friends

LITE STUFF

Eating Healthy With Erin CHICKEN RANCH SALAD TIME 15 min

MAKES 4 servings

SERVE WITH bacon

12 chicken strips 1. Cook chicken fingers 1 L (4 cups) green lettuce according to package instructions.

250 ml (1 cup) bell 2. Place lettuce, bell pepper, cored peppers, avocado, cherry and sliced tomatoes and celery in a 1 avocado, diced bowl.

250 ml (1 cup) cherry 3.

Add ranch dip and mix tomatoes, halved together. Place chicken 125 ml (½ cup) celery, fingers on top. diced 175 ml (¾ cup) ranch dip (see below)

RANCH DIP TIME 5 min MAKES 4 servings

SERVE WITH vegetables

Recipe photos: Erin Stanley

125 ml (½ cup) 1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. mayonnaise Option to garnish with 60 (¼ cup) milk parsley.

7 ml (1½ tsp) apple cider vinegar 1 clove garlic 1 ml (¼ tsp) dried dill 1 ml (¼ tsp) dried chives 1 ml (¼ tsp) pepper 1 ml (¼ tsp) salt 5 ml (1 tsp) dried parsley

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Sudoku Puzzle

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3 × 3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

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© www.kevinfrank.net

HEAVEN’S LOVE THRIFT SHOP by Kevin Frank

Answers on next page.

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QUICK QUIZ 1. What is the capital city of Tunisia?

2. What 2019 war movie received 10 Academy Award nominations?

3. What is the gas trioxygen also known as?

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Faith&Friends

LITE STUFF

Word Search Pasta-licious!

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ALPHABET ANELLI BARBINE BAVETTE BUCATINI CANNELLONI CAPELLINI CARAMELLE CASONCELLI CAVATAPPI CONCHIGLIONI DONDERET

FARFALLE FARFALLINE FETTUCCINE FLORENTINE FUSILLI GEMELLI GNOCCHI GOMITI LASAGNA LINGUINE MACARONI MAFALDE

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MANDALA ORECCHIETTE ORZO PENNE PICI RADIATORI RAVIOLI RIGATONI ROTELLE STELLE TUFFOLI ZITI

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Faith&Friends

NIFTY THRIFTY

The Play’s the Thing … wherein you’ll catch your children’s interest this summer.

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ummer is upon us and the kids are at home and looking to play. If you’re searching for a simple way to update a play kitchen, outdoor slide or playhouse, there are pieces you can find at your local Salvation Army thrift store that can add fun to a summer play space.

Baskets These are a lifesaver for kid’s spaces, good for storing or displaying items and easy to clean up at the end of the day.

Chalkboard A fun place to write or draw, this adds another way to keep them busy during the day.

Faux Plant OK, this one is for the moms!

I used a potted plant, but for a playhouse, a container with faux flowers would be great.

Kids Tea Set Who doesn’t love a tea party? Perfect for a child’s kitchen, table or playhouse.

If you’re looking for ways to keep your kids entertained this summer, make sure to check out your local Salvation Army thrift store. They always have lots of finds for all ages!

(left) Tijana McAllister is the frugalista behind A Plentiful Life, a lifestyle blog that shows readers how to live their best lives on a budget. She is also a creative expert for The Salvation Army’s thrift stores. Find a thrift store near you at thriftstore.ca.

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