Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 354
• Inducted by the governor into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame • Received presidential appointment to the National Congress on Indian Opportunity. • Co-founder, Chickee Independent Baptist Church The first and, to date, only female chairperson of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc., Betty Mae Tiger was born in Indiantown, Florida on April 27, 1922 to a Seminole mother and a Euro-American father. Born in a time when children of Euro-American heritage were believed to bring...
7 was quite the year. Atrocities and tragedies seem to abound. We read headlines of heart- breaking events within our country, within our schools and on our streets. Calamities in the Middle East are the norm and we are used to seeing such unrest on the evening news, but within North America such horrific events seem to be on the increase. Even those whose life’s work of serving to protect us or lead us, who should be respected to the utmost, are being hatefully t...
When I read the story of the woman at the well in John 4: 1-42. There are many issues that arise within this wonderful story. Here is a quick glimpse of some of those issues based on my research in the NIV Application Commentary and The New American Commentary. The reason I tell you this is so that you know I didn’t come up with these ideas myself and that as a Bible Teacher I always refer to the work of experts in their fields. I can’t just rely on my own opinion. I need hel...
We all wish we could turn time backward and change something we’ve done or something we didn’t do. I was talking to a friend last week and he is convinced he has ruined his life and he’ll never recover from a mistake he made. I tried to encourage him and tell him it wasn’t the end of the world, but he is filled with regret and thinks he’ll never be happy again. He has lost his self-confidence and every day he relives his mistake over and over in his mind. We’ve all done th...
I know of few things more disturbing to a man than having someone misplace his remote control. Perhaps the only thing more disconcerting is misplacing it himself. One night when our children were very small, I finally got them kissed, read to, and tucked into bed; then I sat down to watch the Edmonton Oilers beat the stuffing out of the Los Angeles Kings from the comfort of an easy chair. My right hand moved robotically to the bookstand beside me and fished around, coming up...
Otakuye Conroy-Ben (Oglala Sioux) is the oldest of five children born to Vina and Arlo Conroy, and is originally from Porcupine, South Dakota. Located in Shannon County, the third poorest county in the United States. It is where Dr. Conroy-Ben lived for the first five years of her life in a small one-room house that had electricity but no indoor plumbing. Her Lakota name, Titakuye Ota Win (Many Relatives Woman) was given her by her grandmother. Because her parents were among...
Have you ever been in debt? Maybe you’re in debt now. I can remember my first financial loan I received to pay for two years of post secondary education. “The huge debt was always on my mind, as I longed to be free of it. Ten years later, after much hard work my load was “paid off.” The burden of debt can be very stressful to bear! People in the world work hard to pay off homes, cars and all sort of things, seeking the ultimate goal of being debt free, ideally with a lofty s...
I grew up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, not because I am Arapahoe or Shoshone (I am actually part Ponca), but because our doctor in Denver told my parents that my brother needed to live on a farm. Mom had several cousins living there so that is where we went. I am not sure of the doctor’s wisdom; my mother went from a house in Denver with all of its amenities to a house in Wyoming with no running water. I appreciate my childhood; I met wonderful friends, but as I l...
Christmas stirs up so many memories. Hopefully most of the memories are of happy times with loved ones and may our hearts be touched by the message of the birth of Jesus. I’ve had some wonderful Christmases and I’ve had some that weren’t very merry. When I was newly married, my husband and I lived on a little farm in Oklahoma. It had been a hard year and almost everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. My husband lost his job in November and he was cutting fire...
“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:1-5 NIV). This is the perfect passage to look at when wanting to be encouraged and bring healing to your broken...
“Ouch!” I screamed really loud (some say like a little girl), as boiling water swallowed my left hand. The pain and surprise of the sting made me lose my grip on the hot pot. As the pot crash-landed, the remainder of its boiling water baptized the floor. The morning started pretty good. The church was having a special “Freedom” service. Both the English and Spanish bodies were coming together to celebrate our freedom in Christ. Special messages were planned. Special songs. And...
Coyote was hungry. Always lean and scrawny now his ribs were showing. Coyote knew if he didn’t eat soon he would starve to death. He was so hungry he was getting weak and couldn’t run fast enough to catch rabbits or squirrels, he was desperate. As coyote walked near a lake he saw ducks swimming near the shore and he licked his lips with his tongue, he could almost taste the ducks. A plump, tender duck would be delicious but they were almost impossible to catch. Ducks were very smart and as soon as they saw him they would swi...
As summer turns to autumn, shorter days and crisp air stir up visions of hearty soups and crusty homemade bread. It won’t be long before the holidays give me a good excuse to bake a spicy dessert or savor a mug of hot chocolate. Our Creator not only gave us an abundant variety of foods but He included the taste buds to enjoy them. According to Wikipedia, “taste is the sensation produced when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on tas...
Warriors, have you been swept away by Creator Yahweh’s love? Like prayers being lifted up on eagle wings, sometimes even the toughest of warriors must be carried in Creator’s arms, lifted high above the battle to a place of refreshment. If this is where you find yourself, then rest and enjoy. Let the warmth of the morning sun wash over you in healing waves. Bask in the light of Creator’s Sacred Writings, the Bible, and let Creator’s words feed your weary soul. Get close to the earth and listen to His heartbeat. Count the rhy...
My walk isn’t right. It hasn’t been right for some time. No, I’m not talking about my walk with God. I’m talking about my physical walk. I was born with an impaired hip. My left foot has always been a bit pigeon-toed but in the last few years I have experienced pain and now have a limp that only a hip replacement came fix. I am really looking forward to a new walk! Not only that but I look forward to wearing heels again, playing volleyball, and even getting a good night’s rest...
I imagine that is what my grandfather said when he was a young boy growing up near Blanco Canyon in New Mexico. I remember him telling me stories about when he used to herd sheep as a child. That is until he was 'enrolled' in school. At a young age my grandfather was removed from his home and sent to a boarding school. There he was forbidden from speaking Navajo, practicing Navajo traditions and culture, and even learning from his elders. He was made to pick an English name an...
His face said it all. Hate. Disgust. Jealousy. Even sprinkles of deep, dark evil. He would treat others with the utmost respect and sincerity. But I was treated like the lowest, dirtiest, slimiest form of scum. Every day he would greet me with a look that could kill. His lifeless, hate-filled daily stare was at times chilling. For eight months he openly spoke ill of me, spreading rumors all over the prison yard. Much effort was put forth to discredit my testimony. He even...
Born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon (near what is now Auriesville, New York) of an Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father, Kateri was orphaned at four years of age when smallpox took the lives of her parents and brother, left her badly scarred, and with extremely poor eyesight. Following the epidemic, her entire village was burned. Adopted by an uncle, Kateri moved with her new family to the community of Kahnawake. For the first time, she saw Jesuit priests--men the people...
I don’t know why God made mosquitoes but He must have had a good reason. Apparently mosquitoes have been annoying people since the beginning of time and almost every tribe has a legend to explain how mosquitoes were created. A long time ago there were two tribes who both wanted to live in the valley near a lake. Big Elk was the chief of the tribe that had average-sized warriors but Blue Crow was the chief of the other tribe who had giant warriors that were as tall as young t...
After graduating from Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta, with a Master of Divinity Degree, I wasn't sure I was a master of anything. I had no definite prospects for working in ministry. Yes, I had completed tons of volunteer work, but who was going to pay me (even a small amount) to do ministry? Yes, God had looked after me all the years before this and so why was I worried or fearful? The reason why I was worried and fearful was because my heart was failing me and it...
I ducked under the eaves, lingering to hear the rhythm of a gentle rain as a chickadee called from a nearby lilac bush and a chipmunk scampered from the bird feeder. Quiet, simple sounds; yet profound. If you haven’t done your morning exercises, I invite you to try this. Sit in as much silence as possible; then, listen and identify what you hear. (This is my kind of exercise!) How many different sounds do you hear? Nature covers our sound canvas like the artist’s initial was...
SANTA, FE, NEW MEXICO-There's something about Santa Fe, New Mexico that's quite special. It may be the many museums and galleries that dot the landscape with art and history. Or maybe the confluence of cultures: Native American, Spanish, and Anglo. Or maybe it's the food or architecture? I'm not too sure. But it's probably the convergence of these-and several other unique elements-that makes this 400-year old city one of America's great cultural sites. My recent excursion to...
When ranting against and questioning God, I tend to forget that the darkness I am struggling against, trying to see through, or just sitting in weeping in, could be from God-it could be God. God created darkness for a reason. In the beginning, He separated it from the newly created light-insinuating that perhaps He created it or it simply pre-existed the creation of the world. He wielded it against the Egyptians when He was breaking their will and freeing His people. He...
Ann didn’t have the money to buy a nice gift for Joe for his birthday so Ann gave her husband a rock. It wasn’t a pretty rock or an unusual rock, it was just a smooth, round rock she’d picked up in her yard. On one side of the rock she’d used a marking pen to write “Always” and on the other side of the rock she’d written “Never.” “I’m giving you two words for your birthday, always and never,” she said. “I’ll always be here for you, I’ll always love you, I’ll always be faithful...
I have come to realize that a lot of things they say about Jesus Christ are not true. Oh, I'm sure He smiled a lot, and sometimes wore perfectly starched robes, and went around patting children on the head, like I saw on the covers of all those Sunday-School pamphlets. And, if I remember correctly, we have stories of Him preaching and dispensing wisdom, and then moving on to the next towns and lakesides. He was misunderstood; people were jealous of Him or threatened by Him; an...
