Hope Archives | Council Fire

January 24, 2026

http://Yesterday,%20Today,%20and%20Forever

January 24, 2026

Yesterday, Today, and Forever

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. How can you know Him? By getting into His Word. It talks about Him forgiving our sins as far as the east is from the west. They are gone forever! We sin because of our human nature. I’m not saying it’s okay, but when we sin we need to go quickly to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. God’s Word says that He is faithful to forgive our sins. He did that yesterday. He’s doing […]

January 23, 2026

January 23, 2026

We Have This Hope…

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.” Hebrews 6:19-20 (NIV) The human soul . . . my soul, your soul . . . is most precious to God Almighty in all His creation. He created the human soul in His likeness and image to live forever and ever, eternally! Jesus said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36, NIV). The word forfeit means “losing.” The sober thought […]

January 21, 2026

Reconciliation

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart; but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) In the past few years, much has been said regarding reconciliation between residential school survivors and the government. I held all that rhetoric at arm’s length until last year. Two incidents opened up feelings that were hidden away under years of denial and suspicion. The first incident was the recounting of my Day School experience. Memories of small children housed in a one-room school with rows of desks for grades 1-6. Everything that happened in that room was a common experience. […]

January 20, 2026

January 20, 2026

Poverty or Plenty

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Philippians 4:11 (NIV) Have you ever been flat broke? There’ve been a few times I’ve been there, and it’s not a real enjoyable place to be. At the other end of that gamut is having more than enough, which is a whole lot more comfortable and easier to appreciate! The Apostle Paul, like most of us, didn’t have a whole lot of trouble dealing with the upper end of the “poverty to plenty” spectrum—that wouldn’t have been an issue. Writing […]

January 19, 2026

http://Run%20the%20Race%20You%20Know%20You%20Can’t%20Win

January 19, 2026

Run the Race You Know You Can’t Win

“When I fall, I shall arise.” Micah 7:8b (KJV) It doesn’t take courage to run the race you know you will win. It takes courage to run the race you know you can’t win. When my daughter, Storm, was in school she joined the track team. She was small for her age and she had asthma. She would enter every event and she always came in last . . . and not just “last,” but sometimes minutes behind the winner. At times it was painful to watch her struggling to cross the finish line when every breath was an effort. […]

January 16, 2026

January 16, 2026

The God We Serve

“Hear me, LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.” Psalm 86:1 (NIV) “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7 (NKJV) The God of the Bible is a God of love, mercy and justice. I gave up trying to understand God a long time ago because His ways are far higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). Both my wife and I came to know Christ in 1979 as a result of a terrible tragedy in my brother and sister-in law’s lives. Their five-year-old son drowned in […]

January 15, 2026

January 15, 2026

Never Saw It Coming

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) When my father passed away in 2019, it was the first time in my parents’ 57 years of marriage that my mother would be alone. We had assured my father not to worry, that my four brothers and one sister and I would take care of her. We were all taught that in the first year we should let the grieving grieve. So, we let our mother do that and, like we promised […]

January 14, 2026

http://The%20Message%20and%20the%20Method

January 14, 2026

The Message and the Method

“YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NIV, caps my own) Time has a way of changing things—well, not everything, but some things. One of the things that sometimes needs to change is the way we do ministry. I remember back in the early 1980s, reading some of the writings of NEFC Founder, Tom Francis, and his successor, Joseph Jolly. There was a section in our NEFC objectives that said: “NEFC yearns to share the Gospel in every Native community in Canada.” My unspoken thought […]

January 8, 2026

Storms

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of diffi culty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fi re of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2 (NLT) I was watching a news report this morning about an earthquake in Asia. It wasn’t as bad as some earthquakes, but it got me thinking about the “storms” we all face in life. Everybody has their share of storms—storms of health, relationships, finances, employment (or lack thereof) . . . storms of scenarios […]