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My wife and I were in Oregon sitting around a campfire with some fabulous people. They asked what's the difference between Canadians and Americans? I said that Canadians are always apologizing and that I'm very sorry we apologize so much. Canadians are sort of like the people living above a tavern, I said. Americans are making a lot of noise down below and every once in awhile we poke our heads out windows and say, "Hey! Keep it down!" They laughed. One handed me a laser...
How can we find healing for our broken hearts? I want to tell my life story briefly, and reflect on all that God has done for me and my family. By doing this I want to continue to heal my heart that is still healing from the past. I also want to encourage you to reflect on all that God has done for you and let those thoughts push out any struggles you are going through. November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada; Veterans Day in the United States and then in December we have Chr...
Have you ever haggled at yard sales? Do you find yourself saying, "Hey! Those cassette tapes...would you take $3 for the whole lot?" If so, you are cheap my friend. I know a guy who spends Saturdays comparison shopping at yard sales. He says, "I saw that same Barry Manilow record at Bob's place for 25 cents. Can you beat that? And what's your return policy?" I'll tell you my return policy. If he returns to my yard sale I will snap a Barry Manilow record over his head. I never...
As Aboriginal People and as Peoples of the Earth, we are so different from each other, in many areas of our lives. Yet, at the same time, we have a few things in common. We all have families, we all need water and food to live, we all have a sense of community, and we all like to sing. Although there are more aspects of life that we have in common, than I haven’t listed, I would like to focus on the last item I mentioned, which is singing. When I look at Psalm 40:1–3 it say...
As autumn chills the air, my thoughts turn to food, not just the light salads and cold fruits of summer, but something more substantial. I bring out the slow cooker for hearty beef stews and savory chicken noodle soups. Flavorful ham hocks bring beans, lentils and split peas to life. I like to have a pot of chili and a loaf of hot bread ready at the first sign of snow. Spicy ginger cookies make a perfect companion to a hot cup of tea. One of my fondest memories of going to sch...
Snow Flower watched her son as he sat on a log with his head down. She knew once again Little Fox had been left behind as the other young boys went off to play. Little Fox was small for his age and not as strong as the other boys. They often ignored him and left him out of their games which hurt him deeply. Snow Flower sat next to her son. She wanted to put her arm around him to comfort him but she knew it would only embarrass him in front of the other boys so she sat with...
In the elegant confines of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., the bias is pretty clear for all to see. The content in this government-run facility is robustly pro-Indian rights and unabashedly political. Elaborate displays of cultural art and culture are laid alongside shocking and graphic descriptions of seminal legal battles involving, and the atrocities committed against, indigenous peoples in the U.S. Most striking is the frequent...
My husband asked me to go on a road trip with him a few weeks ago. I was mostly happy but a tiny bit terrified. He wanted us to go to Sioux Lookout, Ont., for the weekend to visit his old residential school. Worst-case scenarios littered my thoughts. Would he show me unmarked graves of school children? Break down into a shuddering lump on the ground, or share stories that would give me nightmares? A few years back, I went with my uncle to support him when he had to recount his abuses in detail to his lawyers. It was part of...
Last Saturday two phone calls came, one from my son Steve who said, "Dad, my water heater broke." I have no idea why he'd call a guy like me. I'm remotely aware that hot showers contain hot water, but I have no idea where hot water comes from. The basement, I think. "Shut off the taps. Mop up the water," I told him, "and call your Uncle Bill. He's a plumber." The second call came from my daughter who said, "Daddy, my water broke." On April first she said the same thing on the...
Prejudices and racism seem to abound in our world today. Unity and peace are lacking from a worldwide perspective and within our own communities. If we are really honest we would admit that peace is lacking within our own hearts. Nations are struggling to have equality or have more than others and have been since the beginning of time. History proves that mankind does not know the way of peace. Ever since the the first man and woman’s fall in the Garden of Eden, they and t...
Proverbs, often called “The Book of Wisdom” says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Many of us, in our own personal lives, have made our paths in life crooked. Many of us have led lives that have created journeys that have taken us to places that we didn’t want to go. We have all been placed on this earth to go on a journey. Yet, many of us hav...
Mele had always been some mythical character in the far distant past. I’d heard bits and pieces of her story from family members. Her mother’s name was High Feather, or maybe Little Feather; no one knew for sure. She was part of the Ponca Tribe and may have been raised by the Sioux. Her father, a French trapper with a roguish reputation, had traded her off to a man in payment of a gambling debt. Her daughter, one of eleven children, had married my great grandfather. I did not...
Coyote sat on the rocky mesa and howled at the moon. He was sure no other animal on earth could be as happy as he was. He was free. He ate when he was hungry. Slept when he was tired. He could run alone or run in a pack, the choice was his. Coyote was strong, he could run as fast as the wind, his howl could be heard for miles and he knew he was the smartest animal in the desert. Coyote was happy with his life until winter came. This was the coldest winter he could remember....
Recently I have had the joy of witnessing a couple of eagles flying in the air. There is something so majestic and wondrous about these amazing birds. Their strength and “eagle eyes” are admirable and should cause us to certainly acknowledge God’s almighty hand, made obvious through His creative power. God’s Word says that all things were made by Him and through Him (John 1:3). He spoke the Word and various aspects of creation came to be instantly! The one aspect I admire...
Many of us who are followers of Jesus know what it is like to serve Him. We can sometimes do so much that we forget that part of serving Jesus is to get four proper forms of rest. These are physical rest, spiritual rest, mental rest and emotional rest. Let’s find out more about this very important topic. When we look at this topic from the perspective of the Old and New Testament together, we see that this ultimate form of rest comes from Jesus Christ. First of all the Bible s...
After years of wondering and months of searching, my husband held her phone number in his hands; he paced the room, wondering what to do. What if she didn’t want to talk to him? He did not want to complicate her life; he just wanted to know his natural mother. After his adoptive dad died and his mother lived in a nursing home, a man gave him the name of the doctor who had delivered him forty years earlier. The doctor, who had lived only three houses down from him his entire l...
Two years ago my daughter Spring Storm, asked me to make a buckskin shirt for her. She said she wanted dark leather, long fringe with tin cones on it and she wanted bead work with images of lightning bolts and coyotes. I promised that I would make the shirt for her. Then I completely forgot about my promise and luckily for me, she also forgot about it. One morning I was drinking a cup of coffee when there was a flash of lightning outside of my window followed by a crack of...
“The labels came off these,” the store manager said holding up two cans of roast beef. “They are not old or expired. The labels came off, that’s all.” I was a bit suspicious, but I only had $8 to spend (my monthly earnings for working 150 hours) and I wasn’t going to debate the person who knew her product. “Okay, I’ll take them,” I said to her. I also added two packs of Peanut M&Ms and a bag of refried beans (dehydrated.) I walked off excited, thinking about the wonderful roa...
Much is said about the potential damage that 50 Shades of Grey could cause women but I’m not hearing much about the damage it will cause to men. I spoke recently with a young man who walked in on a 50 Shades of Grey event at a local establishment. He was clearly confused by it. “That’s the kind of stuff that comes into a guy’s head sometimes but then the guy usually knows to get rid of it because it’s wrong. Now, here I was, surrounded by women wearing handcuffs “just for fun” and asking me to blindfold them. I guess I shoul...
When the novel Fifty Shades of Grey was published three years ago, critics described it as “dull and poorly written,” “depressing” and “a sad joke.” Yet, it sold 100 million copies. Women were fascinated by the dark tale of a 21-year-old college student, Ana Steele, who falls in love with a handsome but mysterious young billionaire named Christian Grey after she interviews him for a newspaper. The book was accurately dubbed “mommy porn” because it is sexually graphic and full of crude language, and also because Christi...
ALBUQUERQUE, NM (ANS)-Alcoholism is "a wicked sin, just like drug addiction. You can get victory over it with the help of Jesus." We live in an alcohol-saturated culture, where the link is often made between drinking alcohol and having a good time. Unless you're a conservative American Christian or over-consume alcohol, unlike smoking, it's socially acceptable to drink. There's usually a drink available at many after hours business networking functions as well as numerous...
EAGLE BUTTE, SD-The tiny building is aptly named, the Mustard Seed, because great things have been happening there. The Mustard Seed, situated half a block off Main Street in downtown Eagle Butte, on the Cheyenne River Indian reservation, is where kindhearted individuals have been volunteering their time to feed the homeless two or three times a week. But last month when another homeless man in Eagle Butte lost his life to the cold, Pastor Pauline Webb of the United Church of...
"Do you get angry at your cat for scratching you at times?” My question surprised him. He didn’t know I, or anyone else, knew about his kitten. “How do you know?” he questioned me, but with a smile. “Who told me is not important here. Just answer my question.” I wasn’t going to let him get off the subject. He had been complaining to me about his neighbor, not just today but for weeks now. And for weeks I had no wisdom or advice for him, until I found out about his cat. His...
8! Twenty fifteen sounds like the title of a sci-fi movie. Sometimes I feel like I am living in the middle of such an epoch. Every day, advances in technology expand way beyond my understanding. On some days I shun the newest and latest gadget simply because I cannot allow one more thing to direct my day from some unseen cloud. (My e-mails keep asking if I want to connect with the cloud. I keep telling it to leave me alone; I just want to stay here on earth.) I rejoice...
For about fifteen days I personally went through my personal property and discarded anything that would be considered illegal or against the rules (in other words, anything “questionable.”) And I was convinced I had done a great job. The prison was conducting cell searches and was looking for anything and everything that was questionable. We had received word that a cell had been found with items impossible to have without outside help. Outside help, meaning “staff.” However...
