Link Round Up: MAiD and the Money; Light of the World; Jumbotrons revealing the heart
Three Things from Andrew Kooman and a poem about examining the heart
Thanks for spending some time this weekend with Things I Wrote Down. It was a wild week on the big screen—at sport stadiums and in local theatres—as the heart of humanity was on display. There’s so much in there, isn’t there?
When adults are stealing from kids to get balls and ball caps, you might say we need to all take a step back and examine our hearts.
Here are three things that surfaced this week on the web that show the heart, and a poem about the same.
MAiD and the Money
It was sickening but not surprising to read this week new reporting on just how much money doctors that perform euthanasia on Canadians make.
Killing patients is lucrative. Some physicians are making hundreds of thousands of dollars for ending the lives of their patients.
Trudo Lemmens who has been a strong voice about shining light on the reality of MAiD highlights the potential malpractice at the heart of this procedure. His post on LinkedIn alerted me to the BC Catholic reporting by Terry O’Neill.
After complaining soon after it became legal that euthanasia wasn’t financially sustainable and that they needed more money for the procedure, doctors can now command between $450 to $900 to assess and lethally inject patients, a few hours of life-ending work.
It seems important for everyone to know that.
Light of the World
We need this film in Canada. I took my kids to the new animated film Light of the World which was a beautifully made story. It looks at the life of the apostle John as a young teenager as he gets to know Jesus. It's unique animation and simple truths warm the heart.
I was pleased to meet the filmmakers when I was in Texas earlier in the year and learn about the film firsthand. I also got to see and portions of it as they were making the final cut. It's sweet to see it in the theatre. Their plan is for the film to be used all around the world in different languages to introduce kids and communities to the gospel. A billion people will see the film in the next 10 years in their native tongue.
The film, which my children enjoyed, and it's message of love, hope, and eternal life in life's tough reality, is the type of content our culture needs injected into its veins.
Jumbotrons revealing the heart
It was another big week for jumbotrons as the hearts of men and women were once again revealed on the big screen.
You may have seen the US open hat-stealing moment, when a CEO ripped the hat meant for a young boy out of the boys hand and pocketed it for himself.
The one got the most attention was of the baseball fans fighting over a ball and the Karen who confiscated it from a father and son as the family celebrated the boy's birthday at the Phillies game.
This is, of course, after the infamous marriage-ending, career ending moment at the Coldplay concert that was one of the most viral moments of the summer.
Note: Be on your best behaviour when aa Jumbotron is involved. Better yet, acting the same way you do in secret as the way you do in public is probably a good plan!
Poem
I may have shared this before, but it was too on the nose to not share in my Sunday poem section. I wrote it seven years after doing my DTS with YWAM, a life-changing experience in Jerusalem that brought me to Egypt and through the Palestinian territories, and also, on a journey of the heart.
I experienced so much truth, change, and challenge in those months far away from all I knew. And this poem came after reflecting on some of the experience years later. I hope you enjoy it and that it encourages you to look inward and upward.
Together we examine my heart, seven years later i. I swear it was right here the last time I checked cold and sticky as a frog frantic except when cupped in your hand uglier, more fascinating than expected ii. you should have known it would be a costly endeavour that it would take time to examine approached it with the energy of a NASA scientist dreaming of colonies, greenhouses that grow tomatoes on Mars never to leave the grey-walled cubicle float weightless in space never to see or breathe or walk the planet just dream it sense it, feel toward it through meticulous science probing from afar stubborn, damned wonder tucked in your shirt pocket beside all the pencils creating a way to see iii. this new vision means a new blindness too you strain to see the planets and forget the shape of mountains blades of grass what it is to trudge through the mud and scrape off your boots iv. I heard of a city miles high and just as wide inside street after street concrete billboards and endless building projects the skyline smudged with smog v. come away with me take my hand we’ll run to a place that is quiet where we can remember laughter, get out of the city sit as long as it takes until we see again wait for the stars