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The two most difficult emotions to work through in our lives are rejection and grief. Grief, which is an overwhelming emotion, isn't always accompanied with rejection, but grief is always the result of rejection. I have no doubt that every person reading this has had his or her share of rejection and grief; I wonder how you have learned to process such strong emotions. Obviously, healthy ways and a not-so healthy ways to deal with grief exist, but no way is easy. The...
Did you ever hit your head on a car door? I hope not. But if you have, you know it hurts. So, imagine my surprise when I saw a woodpecker clinging to the side of a metal lamppost, slamming his beak into that metal tree. OUCH! I thought, This is not the brightest bird in the flock. He's one feather short of a wing. How could he possibly pound his head into metal at lightning speed without one colossal headache? Without turning his brains to pudding? We humans can handle 5 Gs...
Someone had abandoned a beagle at the gate to our farm. People from the city frequently abandoned a cat or dog along our country road. Maybe they had pets they no longer wanted or couldn't take care of or maybe they were moving away and were hoping some farmer would adopt their pet. We had an "Old McDonald's Farm." We had horses and cows and sheep and goats and chickens and ducks and several stray dogs and a half-dozen abandoned cats. When someone abandoned a very pregnant...
I heard a thought this week on YouTube from Pastor John Burke. I have been working this over in my mind, so I will share it with you to see what you think. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . " (Matthew 6:19–20). We cannot send funds into heaven. We cannot take our treasures with us. I have been watching the wildfire evacuations happening i...
I got a letter in the mail after my 64th birthday saying I was eligible to apply for my Senior's Pension. It reminded me that there was a big change coming when I turned 65! We had a good chuckle when I told my friends that I was becoming an Elder! It got me thinking about the phases of life. I thought about my grandchildren, and how my youngest granddaughter was going from Grade 1 to Grade 2. And then my grandson, going from Grade 4 to Grade 5. Our oldest granddaughter will...
My friend, I lived years of my life without hope. I grew up being bullied and made fun of to the point that I hated my life. I would often wish I were never born. I felt alienation, rejection, and ostracism. Yes, I know what it is to live without hope. Suicide has impacted my family in more ways than one. I confess that I attempted suicide; it was after my own daughter took her life at the young age of just 14 years old. Fourteen years old! I remember sitting there wondering...
Council Fire, the 366-day devotional written entirely by Indigenous and Native American followers of Jesus continues to be a hit. As of July 1, all three volumes have required a reprint! That means over 18,000 copies have been distributed! We rejoice and praise the Lord, as only He could do such a thing. Choosing the Creator's Path, currently in poster format and tract, is in the process of becoming a hands-on Bible study. One of ILM's Board members, Becky Kew, who is also a...
Back in 1991, country singer Garth Brooks cowrote and recorded the song, "Unanswered Prayers." The lyrics center around a situation in which a man encounters his sweetheart from back in high school and introduces her to his wife (awkward!). The man thinks back to when he had prayed so fervently for God to let him marry her-but it never happened! And now he thanks God for unanswered prayers as he looks at his wife and appreciates the lady God gave him, rather than the object...
Just a few days ago, we were catching a plane to travel to beautiful British Columbia to attend a pastors' and leaders' conference in Aldergrove. We got up early, loaded our luggage into the vehicle, and made the 45-minute drive to the airport. After going through security, we patiently waited, coffee in hand at 6:45 am to board the plane. Finally, after much waiting, it was time to board. We got in line, pulled up our boarding passes, and grabbed our driver's licenses. Upon...
Sinking is never a good thing. At the end of March in Saskatchewan, Canada, we always still have a large amount of snow. Every morning, I head out to the country, where I have a little trail I have managed to maintain all winter. Every time the snow falls, my trail gets covered. With a lot of work, I try to find my path without sinking in snow that is sometimes up to my waist. Once I find my trail again, my dog and I continue happily as we admire God's creation. As I walk, I...
It's that time of year when I get to cook Mother's Day dinner and try out the smoke detector. I can't wait. I believe it was Eve in the Garden of Eden who first said, "Because I said so, that's why." Ever since, moms have been saying wise and sometimes hilarious things. One mother said, "Be nice to your brother; you may need one of his kidneys someday." Or consider Brett's mom, who said: "You're not listening. You need to start listening to me. I might say something important...
I often hear myself saying, "That's just not right!" I want the situation to be fixed; I want justice for whomever and for whatever. Life offers an endless supply of things for me to be upset about. Do you ever feel like this? The Lord offers me different ways to think about life, and I appreciate His help. I often get around to thinking His way, but wanting life to be right is where I usually begin. Jesus said a lot about this subject in His teachings in Matthew 5–7. I c...
My mother tried to abort me twice and failed. The day she went into labor, she was found digging a grave for me in the hog shed. My grandfather dragged her to the hospital where I was born. She refused to feed me, and my grandmother made formula for me with maple syrup, coffee and canned evaporated milk. We lived in a tar-paper shack that had been a chicken coop. It didn't have electricity or water. We lived with a mattress on a dirt floor and had bed bugs. Our only light was...
Prayer is powerful. I know it is because prayer has helped me out of some hard situations, but I don't want to pray to God just to get out of trouble. I want a real relationship. And God wants a real relationship with you! That relationship began when you and I prayed to the only One who could save us from our sins, Jesus, the Christ, God's eternal gift to us. It was then that our prayer life to God as a new believer began, and it is only through His only Son and mediator, Jes...
"His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:21–23 ESV I'm a coffee drinker. Ever since I was 14 years old, I've revelled in the liquid satisfaction of the life-enhancing elixir that Heaven blessed this Earth with! From my truck-driving days of guzzling 16 cups a day to the much more balanced intake of only 4 to 5 daily indulgences now, I continue to relish that delicious cupful! BUT . . . if java isn't fresh, java...
On days when the weather permits, because our home is close to the Intertribal Life office, I choose to walk. For the past number of weeks, I have seen a father walking his two daughters to and from school, with his arm securely held in place by a sling. I've never been close enough in proximity to talk to him about his arm, but today, as I was walking towards the crosswalk, he was walking towards me as he finished crossing with his girls. It was the perfect opportunity to...
In the United States, there's a wonderful business that makes the most amazing cinnamon buns. We don't have this business in Canada, but you can rest assured that whenever I am travelling in the US, I make sure I find the business's bakery kiosk. Nothing is like these ooey-gooey good buns! They are worth the price and the time it takes to find them. They are the perfect blend of sticky brown sugar/cinnamon filling with bread. Once you start eating one, it's hard to stop. I...
After I spoke somewhere, a gentleman told me he was a beekeeper. "Bees are the most amazing creatures in the world," he said. "Look them up." I did. And now, whenever I hear a bee buzzing, I smile. It is the sound of one of creation's truly awesome marvels. Did you know those wings are beating more than 190 times a second? Try that with your arms. When the bumblebee lands on one of a few hundred flowers in our yard, the buzzing changes. Because it is now chewing bumble gum...
My friend went into hospice this week. She is preparing to leave earth and relocate to her Father's place (the one Jesus is preparing in heaven). She is looking forward to seeing Christ and the people she misses, who left before her. At the same time, I am adjusting to my new retirement and seeking ways to feel relevant in this new season of my life. The two scenarios hardly compare, but I know that my own travels from this earth won't be all that far away so I want to be...
Rabbit was hopping around in the newly fallen snow. Life was good; life was perfect. As he hopped around the trunk of a big tree, he came nose to nose with a coyote. They were both so surprised neither of them moved. Rabbit knew that coyote could eat him in two or three bites. He knew he couldn't outrun the coyote. He was doomed. Coyote had been out hunting for food in the deep snow but hadn't expected to come nose to nose with a rabbit. "Hello Friend," the rabbit said,...
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 (NIV) Did you ever wake up at night and couldn't go back to sleep? You tossed and turned, but sleep wouldn't come. Sometimes when that happens, I realize that I can make good use of that time, so I start to pray. Usually, the first ones that come to mind are my kids. I wonder where they are, and I pray about that. I wonder how the...
I made the decision to follow Jesus. It's been three years now, but the problem is, I can't seem to live and stand for Him for more than a short period of time. I see others doing it. What can I do to make it? This is a great question; no doubt asked by many born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 6:10–18, the Apostle Paul wrote of the spiritual battle we are constantly engaged in and how we are to respond while in the battle. He wrote of the helmet of s...
"The days of our life are seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength. Yet the best of them are only hard work and sorrow. For they are soon gone and we fly away." Psalm 90:10, NLV In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Warner "Auto-Meter" as optional equipment on his Model T cars. This tool soon became known as the speedometer and included an odometer that tracked how far the vehicle had been driven. By 1920, most vehicles had these. Over the years, it became obvious that if...
Thank you for praying for the Christmas Gospel Concert in Mini Thni (Morley), AB, this past December. We served 250 meals each evening of the event, welcoming members from the surrounding communities: Goodstoney, Bearspaw First Nation and Chinikki First Nation. The material we brought from ILM was well received by the community. One lady told us she was taking our material to the Addiction Recovery Centre when she went to work that evening. Another told us, "You need to come...
Change is a constant in life. No matter how hard I have tried to keep things the same, the more I have noticed that change slips through my fingers like sand . . . or snow. Whether you are reading this from the United States or Canada, your political landscape will be changing in 2025; we will all celebrate another birthday (unless we leave this earth to spend an eternity with Jesus); if you have young children, they will start another year in school; maybe it's time to...
