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In my last article, I shared information about a date palm tree, named Methuselah, (because Methuselah in Genesis lived 969 years). This palm grew from a seed found in a jar in the cliff caves near the Dead Sea. The seed was at least 2,000 years old. How does a dried-up date pit, that has sat in a cave for a couple thousand years, come to life? It is the wonder of being alive that fascinates me. This morning, I cut open a cantaloupe. There were so many seeds packed into the ce...
A four-year-old asked his mom, "What happens when you die?" She said, "You go to be with Jesus." He said, "No. I mean when you die. Do I get your stuff?" The Bible mentions money or possessions about 2000 times. In the book of 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul tells his young protégé Timothy that when it comes to money, followers of Jesus should be characterized by three things: contentment, trust, and generosity. "Godliness with contentment," he said, "is great gain." The great pre...
"But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD." Jonah 1:3 (NKJV) Afew years ago at our Kikino Family Bible Camp, one of our dogs had been sniffing in a small white garbage bag, and his head got caught in the handle. He took off running for his life, as the bag was following him wherever he went!...
SAULT STE. MARIE, Michigan-—The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan (ITCMI) in partnership with The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) has released the updated version of the Gigiigoo'inaan Application (App for iPhones, AndroidS, or similar Smart devices) to guide users in their fish-eating choices throughout the Great Lakes and Bemidji Region waterways. Environmental exposures in the waterways such as PBT or Mercury can disturb human health. The Gigiigoo'inaan "Our Fish" App m...
GARRISON, Minn.—Lerner Publishing Group and Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network-a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Ojibwe and other Indigenous languages through education, advocacy, and community engagement-have announced that the two organizations are collaborating on a line of Ojibwe-language books for young readers targeting the school and library market. "There is a great need for books that support Ojibwe language revitalization and Lerner Pub...
TUCSON, Ariz.-The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Service recently awarded a grant of $1.6 million to aid Indigenous students pursuing nursing careers at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. The grant will fund the Indians in Nursing: Career Advancement and Transition Scholars, or INCATS, program for another five years. The program provides Indigenous students at the U of A College of Nursing with financial support for tuition, fees and a...
GATINEAU, Que.—If plants can start fires, can they also stop them? That was the question two Cree community students started wondering about. And it was the title the two students, Kristopher Neeposh and Rory Henry-Felstead, from Nemaska, Quebec, used for the project they entered in the 2024 Quebec Indigenous Science Fair earlier this year. And by exploring that question, their project ended up winning first place. The project was birthed as a result of forest fires their c...
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—"Reservation Dogs" has received four nominations for the 76th annual Emmy Awards, the Television Academy recently announced. Canadian actor D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Bear) won an Emmy nomination as the best lead actor in a comedy series. Woon-A-Tai has become associated with main character Bear Smallhill in "Reservation Dogs." Bear is a young teen in the coming-of-age comedy series who is the self-acclaimed leader of the Rez Dogs gang. The show also won a n...
Ashley Callingbull, an accomplished model, actress, and television host from the Enoch Cree Nation, has become the first Indigenous woman to win the title of Miss Universe Canada. Callingbull was crowned on July 27, 2024, in Windsor, Ontario. "This is the most surreal feeling. I've been chasing this dream for years and I'm still in awe that it really came true." Callingbull wrote on Instagram. "Representation truly matters because when one of us wins, we all win. Rez kids...
Chikasha Bak Bak (Chickasaw Woodpecker) is one of seven teams currently playing in the Choctaw Nation's Stickball League. With a similar culture and intertwined histories, the Choctaw Nation invited Chickasaws to participate in their league in 2014. Numerous Southeastern First American tribes of North America are working to preserve the heritage of this traditional game. "Stickball is shared amongst Southeastern tribes. It brings different First Nation communities together,"...
WASHINGTON—The first skateboard Di'Orr Greenwood ever rode was a cheap plastic one her grandpa had given to her younger brother. "He had so much fun on it that I wanted a little bit of that fun, too," she said. When she was 22, an arson fire left the family home in ashes. They lost almost everything. But Greenwood found some old skateboards unscathed by the fire, and a tool for wood burning that her late uncle had taught her to use. She began carving Navajo designs on s...
Paris-More than 50 Indigenous athletes competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from July 26 to Aug. 11, and several of those were from Canada and the United States. Paris was the main host city with events held at 16 other cities spread across Metropolitan France, plus a site in Tahiti for the surfing competition. Indigenous athletes from North America included: • Justina Di Stasio represented Canada in wrestling in the 76 kilograms weight class at the Paris Olympics. H...
Marriages are under attack more than ever. No one can attest to that more than Sonia and Derek McLeod, who released their powerful book, Teach Me to War. This honest and stirring memoir brings the reader through the struggles and triumphs of their tumultuous Christian marriage-which included battles with lust, religion and pride. The couple was finally on the precipice of ruin, with Derek leaving the home. But at this point, God ushered in profound change, bringing both of...
Question: In studying the Bible, I have not come across any passages of Scripture that speak specifically against cremation or accept it. However, there are instances in the Bible that speak about burning of a dead body. Is cremation an option for our bodies when we die? Answer: In 1 Samuel 31:11–13 we see, "Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men rose and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the b...
I was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, and am the youngest of four children. In my earlier years, my parents moved to St. Mary's Reserve in Fredericton. As far back as I can remember, there was a lot of alcoholism right in my home. People from my reserve, people from off the reserve, Native and non-Native people would come in to get alcohol and to drink. But my mom and dad weren't alcoholics themselves. They just drank a little socially. By the time I was 11 or 12, I was...
Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. —Ephesians 4:29 "I hate you!" "Why do you have be that way? You're awful." "All you'll ever be is someone who drinks too much!" "She's good for nothing." Have you ever heard such phrases coming from the mouths of people who should be loving one another? I have. And it broke my heart. At one point, I had to excuse myself from the room and go release the pain. Through...
Do to others as you would have them do to you. -Luke 6:31 It was 2:30 in the morning; our band was scheduled pretty tight, and we were pulling an all-nighter through Montana to make the 500-mile haul to that next gig. We had a 1965 MC5A (ex-Greyhound) MCI coach (with about four million miles on it!). That oil-dripping 8V-71 Detroit got up to 61 mph when you had the throttle wide open and the pedal right to the floorboard! My brother Randy was driving the graveyard shift and I...
Plans are coming together as decisions are being made for our upcoming Annual Fundraising Banquet. This year, as we celebrate with friends of Indian Life Ministries, we will praise our Heavenly Father for what He has done this past year, testify regarding what He is currently doing, and share details of what He is leading us in for the upcoming year. Remembering our mandate of restoring hope, healing and honor within Indigenous communities across North America, through a...
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Park Service (NPS) has allocated $3 million in grants to support the consultation, documentation, and repatriation of Native American ancestral remains and cultural items. These grants, awarded to 13 Tribes and 21 museums, are part of the ongoing efforts under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA mandates that museums and federal agencies inventory and identify Native American human r...
WHITEHORSE, Yukon—Yukon's territorial court has issued its first manslaughter sentence in a drug overdose death. Jared Skookum, 34, was sentenced to two years in custody less a day for selling two points of "down," or opioids, to Stephanie Pye, 36, who was a member of the Liard First Nation. Pye died from an overdose of fentanyl and etizolam, commonly known as "street valium." Skookum, a citizen of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, was arrested for trafficking and p...
REGINA, Sask.—At the beginning of summer, an Indigenous young woman received the biggest cash prize in Canadian television history. Rebecca Strong won this prize as she was also the first First Nations woman to be crowned winner of the amateur performance show, "Canada's Got Talent." The Indigenous singer living in Prince Albert, Sask., took home the competition's first $1 million prize at the end of the show's third season. She was voted on by viewers all across Canada. S...
VICTORIA, B.C.—According to "The First Nations Population Health and Wellness Agenda" report released in late August, life expectancy for First Nations people dropped by six years. The multi-year project was introduced in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic and the toxic drug crisis in British Columbia are being blamed for life expectancy for First Nations people in B.C. dropping from 73.3 years to 67.2 years and the mortality rate jumped from 117 people dying early per 10,000 populat...
LANGDON, Alb.—On Saturday, October 26, Indian Life Ministries will host their annual banquet. This year's theme is "For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven." (Ecc. 3:1). "In every season, for every reason, our heavenly Father is the reason for our joy," says ILM director team, Todd and Krystal Wawrzyniak. "Regardless of the circumstances we our in, there is always a reason to praise Him." So the evening will feature praise! Some participants w...
LA RONGE, Sask.—A wrong that was committed over 100 years ago looks like it will probably be made right. The Lac La Ronge Indian Band announced it approved a whopping $601.5 million settlement with the federal government to address the "cows and plows" clause of Treaty 6. Under treaties 4, 5, 6 and 10, the Crown promised agricultural benefits-livestock, hand tools, seeds and farming equipment-to the First Nations that signed. This was meant to push First Nations people from a...
HORNBROOK, Calif.-In August, crews completed the largest dam removal project in US history by demolishing the last of the four dams on the Klamath River. For decades, tribal nations on the Oregon-California border have fought to restore the river back to its natural state. For the past 100 years, the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River-Iron Gate Dam, Copco Dams 1 and 2, and JC Boyle Dam-have prevented the region's iconic salmon population from swimming freely along...
