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In God's love letter to us, in the ancient holy book called the Bible, we see our spiritual ancestor Paul talking about sufferings. We usually want to avoid sufferings and either pretend they don't exist, or try to act like everything is fine. Yet, when we acknowledge our sufferings for what they are, and what sufferings are intended to do for us, it changes our whole perspective on sufferings. One of our ancient spiritual advisors once said, in a letter he wrote to the...
In December, 2001, I was in a 7.6 earthquake in El Salvador. Many people died all around me. Thankfully; I was not inside a building but was outside in the country and did not have to fear being crushed by falling objects. For weeks afterwards, people lived in the streets under makeshift tents because of the tremors. Watching them survive such a catastrophe was a life-changing experience. They knew to have a plan for such an event-a solid foundation was a must and they had to...
Magical! A prism of color exploded, and now danced with glee. The once beat-down and filthy had been awakened, lifted, cleansed and polished. What was being choked, causing a slow death, was now free from Hades' grip. The party that spontaneously erupted was much needed. Magical, I tell you; it was pure magic. Landing in the Administrative Segregation Unity (aka the hole) means also not having all the luxury items to which you have become accustomed in the other units. As a...
Brightly-lit trees, merry songs and glitzy packages seem like noisy intruders into a world whipped apart by hurricanes, crumbled by earthquakes, scorched by wildfires and wounded by mad shooters. How can we possibly celebrate a festive holiday amidst such loss? There is only one answer: Christ. I go back to the basics when my faith feels challenged. Genesis 1 and John 1 reveal the reason why all those hurting can celebrate Christmas. Jesus not only created the world, He died...
I was excited. I was going to have a Christmas party for the first time in years. I'd invited six ladies in my church, and I'd bought a gift and a beautiful candle for each of them. I'd also prepared a special lunch and a fancy dessert. I decorated the house and had candles burning and carols playing. I'd also bought six poinsettia plants to decorate the living room, and I planned to give a poinsettia to each lady when she left so she could enjoy it at home. I'd been planning...
Born in Atlanta, Texas, in 1893, Elizabeth (Bessie) Coleman was the 10th of 13 children. Her parents, George (Cherokee heritage) and Susan Coleman (African-American heritage) were sharecroppers. When she was two years old, the family moved to Waxahachie, Texas, and lived there until Bessie was 23 years old. Her father left Texas where he found the racial climate unbearable for people of color and returned to Oklahoma-known then as Indian Country-where he hoped to find better o...
When Paul Mitchell reached the very bottom of himself, he realized that he did not have the ability to rescue himself. He had to come to the place where he admitted he was powerless. And everything he thought he was, the person he’d always wanted to be, was entrenched in the overwhelming entrapment of sin. Maybe your challenge is not substance abuse. Perhaps other things in your life are controlling you, overwhelming you, turning you into a person you never expected to be. Paul found hope in Christ. He asked God to forgive h...
Dear Nidobak (friends), another year is slipping by, this time dropping changes left and right, both good and not so good. Even apple and pumpkin time is flying into eggnog and candy cane territory so fast. It begins again. This year I plan to embrace the joy that comes with the season. A chance to catch up with myself and others. This is the perfect time to get a lot of baking done. I know now that I have no talent for making fudge or penuche with walnuts, like my mom made. P...
How much do you know about Christmas? Here's a chance to find out. Circle your best guess, check your answers, then impress your friends. 1) Which is the name of one of Santa's reindeer? A. Rudolph. B. Olive. You're right either way. Rudolph is correct. But if you guessed Olive, you must remember singing, "Olive the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names." At least, I think that's how it goes. Don't you wish tests were this easy in high school? Prance on down to...
While Fences was released on Christmas Day in 2016, our reviewer, Will Krischke, feels if you haven't seen it yet-or even if you have-it's a perfect movie to pop into your DVD player or stream at any time. As it opens, Fences feels like it's going to be a film about overt systemic racism in the '50s. Troy (Denzel Washington) plays a garbage man who has complained, perhaps a little too loudly, about how black folks are always on the back of the truck while white folks are...
Paperback available through Amazon A woman becomes torn between her husband and a man from her past as she uncovers a dangerous scheme in this third installment of a series. After a tumultuous adolescence, Dina Youngblood, a striking Seminole/Cherokee beauty, is married to evangelist Aaron Burning Rain. They reside in the Bitterroot Confederacy of Indians, coexisting with colorful neighbors ("A male alligator-halpatee, in what Uncle Donnie called 'Seminole talk'-sounded his...
