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Sinking is never a good thing. At the end of March in Saskatchewan, Canada, we always still have a large amount of snow. Every morning, I head out to the country, where I have a little trail I have managed to maintain all winter. Every time the snow falls, my trail gets covered. With a lot of work, I try to find my path without sinking in snow that is sometimes up to my waist. Once I find my trail again, my dog and I continue happily as we admire God's creation. As I walk, I...
It's that time of year when I get to cook Mother's Day dinner and try out the smoke detector. I can't wait. I believe it was Eve in the Garden of Eden who first said, "Because I said so, that's why." Ever since, moms have been saying wise and sometimes hilarious things. One mother said, "Be nice to your brother; you may need one of his kidneys someday." Or consider Brett's mom, who said: "You're not listening. You need to start listening to me. I might say something important...
I often hear myself saying, "That's just not right!" I want the situation to be fixed; I want justice for whomever and for whatever. Life offers an endless supply of things for me to be upset about. Do you ever feel like this? The Lord offers me different ways to think about life, and I appreciate His help. I often get around to thinking His way, but wanting life to be right is where I usually begin. Jesus said a lot about this subject in His teachings in Matthew 5–7. I c...
My mother tried to abort me twice and failed. The day she went into labor, she was found digging a grave for me in the hog shed. My grandfather dragged her to the hospital where I was born. She refused to feed me, and my grandmother made formula for me with maple syrup, coffee and canned evaporated milk. We lived in a tar-paper shack that had been a chicken coop. It didn't have electricity or water. We lived with a mattress on a dirt floor and had bed bugs. Our only light was...
Prayer is powerful. I know it is because prayer has helped me out of some hard situations, but I don't want to pray to God just to get out of trouble. I want a real relationship. And God wants a real relationship with you! That relationship began when you and I prayed to the only One who could save us from our sins, Jesus, the Christ, God's eternal gift to us. It was then that our prayer life to God as a new believer began, and it is only through His only Son and mediator, Jes...
"His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:21–23 ESV I'm a coffee drinker. Ever since I was 14 years old, I've revelled in the liquid satisfaction of the life-enhancing elixir that Heaven blessed this Earth with! From my truck-driving days of guzzling 16 cups a day to the much more balanced intake of only 4 to 5 daily indulgences now, I continue to relish that delicious cupful! BUT . . . if java isn't fresh, java...
On days when the weather permits, because our home is close to the Intertribal Life office, I choose to walk. For the past number of weeks, I have seen a father walking his two daughters to and from school, with his arm securely held in place by a sling. I've never been close enough in proximity to talk to him about his arm, but today, as I was walking towards the crosswalk, he was walking towards me as he finished crossing with his girls. It was the perfect opportunity to...
In the United States, there's a wonderful business that makes the most amazing cinnamon buns. We don't have this business in Canada, but you can rest assured that whenever I am travelling in the US, I make sure I find the business's bakery kiosk. Nothing is like these ooey-gooey good buns! They are worth the price and the time it takes to find them. They are the perfect blend of sticky brown sugar/cinnamon filling with bread. Once you start eating one, it's hard to stop. I...
After I spoke somewhere, a gentleman told me he was a beekeeper. "Bees are the most amazing creatures in the world," he said. "Look them up." I did. And now, whenever I hear a bee buzzing, I smile. It is the sound of one of creation's truly awesome marvels. Did you know those wings are beating more than 190 times a second? Try that with your arms. When the bumblebee lands on one of a few hundred flowers in our yard, the buzzing changes. Because it is now chewing bumble gum...
My friend went into hospice this week. She is preparing to leave earth and relocate to her Father's place (the one Jesus is preparing in heaven). She is looking forward to seeing Christ and the people she misses, who left before her. At the same time, I am adjusting to my new retirement and seeking ways to feel relevant in this new season of my life. The two scenarios hardly compare, but I know that my own travels from this earth won't be all that far away so I want to be...
Rabbit was hopping around in the newly fallen snow. Life was good; life was perfect. As he hopped around the trunk of a big tree, he came nose to nose with a coyote. They were both so surprised neither of them moved. Rabbit knew that coyote could eat him in two or three bites. He knew he couldn't outrun the coyote. He was doomed. Coyote had been out hunting for food in the deep snow but hadn't expected to come nose to nose with a rabbit. "Hello Friend," the rabbit said,...
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 (NIV) Did you ever wake up at night and couldn't go back to sleep? You tossed and turned, but sleep wouldn't come. Sometimes when that happens, I realize that I can make good use of that time, so I start to pray. Usually, the first ones that come to mind are my kids. I wonder where they are, and I pray about that. I wonder how the...
I made the decision to follow Jesus. It's been three years now, but the problem is, I can't seem to live and stand for Him for more than a short period of time. I see others doing it. What can I do to make it? This is a great question; no doubt asked by many born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 6:10–18, the Apostle Paul wrote of the spiritual battle we are constantly engaged in and how we are to respond while in the battle. He wrote of the helmet of s...
"The days of our life are seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength. Yet the best of them are only hard work and sorrow. For they are soon gone and we fly away." Psalm 90:10, NLV In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Warner "Auto-Meter" as optional equipment on his Model T cars. This tool soon became known as the speedometer and included an odometer that tracked how far the vehicle had been driven. By 1920, most vehicles had these. Over the years, it became obvious that if...
Thank you for praying for the Christmas Gospel Concert in Mini Thni (Morley), AB, this past December. We served 250 meals each evening of the event, welcoming members from the surrounding communities: Goodstoney, Bearspaw First Nation and Chinikki First Nation. The material we brought from ILM was well received by the community. One lady told us she was taking our material to the Addiction Recovery Centre when she went to work that evening. Another told us, "You need to come...
For the last four months, I have been blessed to live in a new, ready-to-move home. From the roof to the floors and the bottom of the crawl space, the house was freshly built and free of any kind of wear and tear. In the third month of living in my new home, I managed to break the handle on my mop and had to resort to washing my floor on my hands and knees. As I proceeded to do so, I was mortified at what I saw from this lowly position. There were food particles on my freshly...
When I was child, January 1 was the one time of year I could stay up late without grownups reprimanding me. They were nice to us all day. Especially if we stayed outdoors. And we did. We ice skated and built massive snow forts and pelted each other with snowballs. One year, we built the world's greatest snow fort, complete with three tunnels and windows you could poke your head through just in time to be plastered by a snowball. The fort was so big I think it caused an...
What is your life story? Wait; I will get us a cup of tea. Would you rather have coffee? That would be fun if I could make our visit happen. I wish I could learn how you walked through your dark valleys or climbed to the top of life's mountains. I would like to hear how the stories of others intersected with your life story. My husband, Wes, has been working on writing his life story for our family. He realized that he not only needs to tell his story, but he also needs to...
Many years ago, I knew an old man named Regret. He was 93 years old, had to walk with two canes and weighed less than a hundred pounds. When young, he'd been a cowboy; later he was a rancher. He was a treasure, had wonderful stories to tell and had a heart of gold. Regret was born in 1931. His mother gave birth to him at home and died moments after he was born. Her final word was, "Regret." His father blamed him for his mother's death and named the boy, "Regret." Regret grew...
Moose hunting requires a hunter to be patient and to not be discouraged. It is about wind direction, body scent, camouflage, how to push a moose out of the bush and, most of all, have a careful aim. Moose are very large animals and have very thick hides, so if you are going to harvest a moose, you need to make sure that your kill shot is very accurate. But the most important thing in harvesting a moose is patience. The Scripture verse above (Romans 15:1) reminds us to be...
Q: "Fifteen years ago I became a Christian, but I fell back into drinking and other things about a year ago and dropped out of church. I am sorry for what I have done, and I want to start over. Do you think it is possible for me to get back in fellowship at our Native church and serve the Lord again? I don't know where to begin." A: It's encouraging to hear of your concern and desire today. Your changed mind reminds me of the Prodigal Son. He had a change of mind and...
Everything we do at Indian Life Ministries is focused on restoring hope, healing and honor within Indigenous communities, through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We do what we do because we care about the hearts and souls of every First Nations, Native American and Indigenous person. If the Lord isn't using this ministry to make an impact on the lives of our readers and friends, what are we doing? Hear what our readers and friends have to say: • "I have been giving Council...
Jordan's a friend of mine who lives up along the Yukon River in central Alaska. He's a sled dog musher and invited me to his place to check out his team. Pointing to his lead dog, he proudly commented, "He ran the Iditarod." Wow, now that's a canine compliment!! You see, the Iditarod is the Everest of dog races. Snaking along 998 miles of tundra, forest, mountain passes, frozen rivers and sea ice, the trail follows the old (modified) freight run to Nome, Alaska. The Iditarod r...
Change is a constant in life. No matter how hard I have tried to keep things the same, the more I have noticed that change slips through my fingers like sand . . . or snow. Whether you are reading this from the United States or Canada, your political landscape will be changing in 2025; we will all celebrate another birthday (unless we leave this earth to spend an eternity with Jesus); if you have young children, they will start another year in school; maybe it's time to...
