Articles from the 'Editorial Viewpoint' series


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  • Moving Forward

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Nov 16, 2024

    "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." 2 Peter 3:18 I love driving! I'm a member of the 5 million mile club-yup, that's a lot of pavement, potholes, and passing lanes! I've driven everything from motorbike to motor-coach, from Pontiac to Peterbilt, but I clearly remember the driver's license Journey . . . Class 7 (learner's) was pretty easy; I was 14 and so proud of my first card with my...

  • Do Unto Others

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Sep 11, 2024

    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...

  • Someday

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Aug 13, 2024

    It was a rolling chassis 1955 Chevrolet Apache 3100 truck that my friend Austin had gifted to me. I was so excited about what I could do with this shortbed stepside pickup, making plans for a mid-sixties 327 V-8 power plant and "4 on the floor" tranny to mobilize Kene's dreammobile! I was beginning to hunt for the parts I needed, envisioning how the prismatic polyester metallic paint in the semi-gloss, charcoal finish would showcase this eventual beauty! There was no time or...

  • My Muddy Truck

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Jan 22, 2024

    "Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:18 (NIV) I grew up on muddy roads. I think I was 15 before I saw pavement-okay that's stretching things! But bad roads were the norm where I came from. I remember a time when it was raining for about a week, and I'd been driving on the dirt and gravel of those back-country roads. My black...

  • Get Up! It's a Long Ways From Your Heart!

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Sep 15, 2023

    If he stumbles, he's not down for long; God has a grip on his hand. Psalm 37:24 (THE MESSAGE) Playing Hockey on our reservation was a memorable experience! As a teenager, I got some really good lessons from that life frame. Lessons like "Don't get the ref mad or you'll pay for it!" and "There's no 'I' in 'TEAM'" and "Play hard or you'll ride the pine," and the most memorable one: "Get up, it's a long ways from your heart!" That was Chief Allan's line! He was there at almost...

  • A Way of Escape

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Jul 14, 2023

    "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV William was a believer who was struggling with some leftovers from the life he lived before he got serious about following Jesus. He'd spent the last of his money on a bag of weed; now, he was hitchhiking down the...

  • Too Much To Handle!

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated May 17, 2023

    This guy was really big! He was skating around the back of their net with his head down when I decided to hit him! Gearing up, I took a good run and put everything I had into this mano-a-mano open ice demolition! Understand that I was young, bulletproof, 6 feet tall, 175 lbs, and had a pretty good record of coming out on top in these kind of showdowns (I always gravitated to the grittier side of hockey!). Anyways, he never looked up once. Just kept coming . . . I lined him up...

  • Plugged In

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Mar 20, 2023

    "The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights." Habakkuk 3:19 The power was off here at our country home for a few hours this morning. No lights, no coffee, no phone charger, no "Global Calgary News" on TV (No TV!), no heat, nothing! The obvious solution? Drive 30 km to the nearest town for breakfast, hang around and wait for the repair guys to do their thing! Bacon and eggs should help dull the pain . . . I...

  • Free Boosting!

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Nov 28, 2022

    Christmas had always been a time for me to get things. Right from my first memories of toy trucks under the tree, it was that way. I remember the Christmas when I decided to do it differently. . . . In Canada we have Kijiji (it's like Craigslist), where I posted an ad, "Free Boosting. Anytime, Anywhere around Calgary. Just call me! Merry Christmas!" I added a picture of some booster cables, gassed up the old Jeep 4x4, and started to field the calls that came in. It was really...

  • Trusting God in the Fog

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Jun 23, 2022

    I sometimes think about the first time I ever flew in a plane, where we were totally dependent on instruments. We were coming into Anchorage Alaska in a Navajo Chieftain and the airport was all "socked in" with fog. The pilot kept checking with the tower as to how much visibility we had & finally got the okay to land when we were about 10 miles out. I remember the helpless feeling I had as we descended into that last fog bank and everything disappeared! I was watching the...

  • Through Troubled Waters

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Jun 23, 2022

    Now and then you run across some lines in an old song that just kind of hit you. As a songwriter, I hear a good one and tend to take notice of the way words are put together. I stumbled on an old 1972 Tom T. Hall song the other day that just kept cycling through my head and I couldn't get it out of my mind! So, I googled it and saved the words. It was a song about a person's relationship with God, aptly titled "Me and Jesus." In the third verse, the musician talks about Jesus...

  • Potential

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Oct 4, 2021

    The late Ed Wood, a former Indian Life Board Member, was one who believed in realizing potential. I'll tell the story as it was told to me, some details may be a little murky but most of it's intact and unstretched! Yup . . . read on! Ed had a teenage daughter who had just graduated from high school and wanted to go to college in Phoenix, Arizona-a long ways from their Winnipeg home. Ed believed in encouraging people to stretch their wings to reach their potential, so he gave...

  • Expiry Date

    Kene Jackson NEFC Executive Director|Updated Sep 2, 2021

    I'm saying good-bye to a Gospel Musician friend of mine today. We're singing a few songs at his wake and then the funeral is tomorrow. I'm really going to miss the guy! I'll remember him as one who lived his life victoriously! Attending a funeral brings to mind our own mortality-something that most of us try to avoid thinking about till the harsh reality of it slaps us in the face! Like the milk carton in your fridge, you and I have an expiry date. The biggest difference is...

  • Duct Tape Blues

    Kene Jackson, NEFC Executive Director|Updated Mar 27, 2021

    It was kind of an awkward situation. Yeah, it was... Milly and I are gospel musicians who have been in slow motion since the start of the pandemic. I guess most musicians are in that mode-no dates, no gigs, no tours, no music sales-just slow! So we decided to do the online thing and put together a one-hour live Facebook® concert once a month, starting back in November 2020. The first two concerts went not too bad until the January event. That was sort of like a borderline...