In 1929, Cyrus Avery, an ordinary Oklahoma businessman, teamed up with C. C. Pyle, the “P. T. Barnum of Professional Sports,” to hold a transcontinental footrace. More than 100 men of all races and nationalities started the race in California and faced all manner of obstacles—from extreme weather to poor food and living conditions, to prejudice to injury—to make the cross-country journey across the United States, ending in New York City. This “Bunion Derby” pushed human endurance to the limits in an unforgettable show of “ballyhoo."

19-year-old Andy Payne, a small-town Cherokee boy, takes home the gold after winning a grueling 3,422-mile foot race designed to bring attention to the newly constructed Route 66 Highway. The race, recounted in this Emmy-nominated film, became one of the wildest promotion schemes in history, allowing Andy to win enough money to marry his girl and keep the family farm.

This Week in Native American News (4/28/17): welcoming of tourists, gathering of tribes and burying of bones.

Robert lives in a crumbling trailer but has Oval Office dreams. Life is hard, but Robert has the heart of a warrior and the determination to succeed. 

The village was still asleep when our plane landed and we loaded up our gear. I stood on the edge of the airstrip looking at the mountains and river and quiet houses around me.

I suppose my story is not unique from anyone else’s.

Every missionary has their story of falling in love with the people and the heartbreak of when they must leave.

God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also. God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven!

No spectacle could be more sublime than that of the Son of God - the Redeemer of the world - thus speaking from the bosom of a placid lake - the emblem of the peaceful influence of his own doctrines - to the poor, the ignorant, and the attentive multitudes assembled on the shore.

This Week in Native American News (4/21/17): a powwow workout, a vet school, and a long lost village.

Alcoholism, unemployment and suicide are problems associated with Native American reservations in the US. But a new generation of young activists are dedicating themselves to a brighter future. Benjamin Zand from the BBC's Pop-Up team is on a reservation in South Dakota -- in the heart of America's midwest.

If you found these devotions and reflections helpful and want to dig further, we recommend the following books, related to the devotions.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you help us in a new way to begin to understand this promise and to speak it to others.  You know best what we need, whether it is healing or growth, help us.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.