Link Round Up: Prayer Everyhwere; J.K. Rowling's "God Shaped Vacuum"; Accidentally Capturing Nepal's Coup

Three Things from Andrew Kooman and a poem

What a week. The assassination of Charlie Kirk took over the conversation on social media and the news all week. The tragedy, witnessed in real time, with its violent images going viral, were impossible to miss.

The manhunt that ensued, the conversation that resulted—revealing the hearts of people, some to love and their better angels, some to hate and their unexorcised demons.

At home the kids, thankfully and completely unaware of the news, played with bubble machines and Lego. The stark contrast of online invective and the world’s troubles set against the innocence of children at play, was stark to me this week.

I’m grateful to live in a place where I don’t fear violence for writing or speaking about what I believe. But clearly we must never take that freedom for granted.

Thanks for spending some time this weekend with Things I Wrote Down. I hope you have time to decompress, hug a loved one, and put to work your freedom to speak your heart and your mind.

Here are 3 Things that stood out to me on the web this week, with a poem about what prayer is.

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Prayers everywhere

I saw a lot of people dropping notes that they were praying this week. Praying and going back to church. Here’s a search query on X showing an outpouring of people motivated, even desperate to go.

We’re a pray-without-ceasing family. At least we try to be. I love seeing my kids pray. This week, we had friends visit from the US, Africa, and eastern Canada. Before we ate our meal, I asked Will (my 8-year-old) to pray. There is something so sweet about the childlike faith of a child’s prayer.

In my small corner of the world, I had fun jumping on a call with my brothers Matt and Dan who are gearing up to film a new movie. I’ll be joining them on cam in the coming weeks for regular prayer hits, because we know that indie films made from a faith perspective need divine help.

On Thursday I posted a prayer response to the recent public murders in the States that have dominated the news cycles. I’ve been surprised at how much engagement this prayer has received across platforms.

If you need a way to pray, or help to turn your thoughts, your concerns, and the troubling images you may have seen on social media over to God, check it out:

A prayer in a time of anger and violence

Free speech leads to the truth

I don’t know why, of all the things I saw on X (and elsewhere) this week, that it was a post from J.K. Rowling stuck out so much in my perception.

I haven’t read read her books, but know her more because of how vocal she’s been on X. I live on planet earth so I’m aware of her massive literary impact and the more recent the attempted erasure of her many have tried, in light of her vocal stance to protect women and their spaces.

In a back-and-forth with an anonymous account that accused her of hatred, she was asked an honest question about her response, in which she said that over time many of her “fixed beliefs” have changed.

Here’s her response:

Some people would call this being red-pilled—awaking out of the mainstream narrative to perceive once-hidden truths. This is a reason literature and the humanities always has appealed.

When approached honestly, with our minds, hearts, souls, we need not be afraid of any topic or conversation. If we are open and honest, questions can always, will always, lead us to truth.

You love to see it. We need more of it: People willing to ask difficult questions, seek answers, enter the fray, and be honest about what they find.

What’s something you’ve changed your mind about?

Accidentally capturing Nepal’s Coup

This story is wild. A British YouTuber with a travel vlog sorta broke the internet when he captured an up-close look at the fall of the Nepalese government while on a motorbike tour of Asia.

Warning: Scenes of Chaos and R-rated language:

When I was in my twenties, I was in Khatmandu when protests, marked by burning tires and shutdown businesses, were taking place. It’s surreal to think that with the right camera equipment the backpacker became an unexpected journalist.

The country seems to have been overthrown by Gen Z, which organized through Discord and other social media.

We live in such an amazing time when we’re witnessing the Behind the Scenes view of politics and major world events, up close, through our phones.

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Poem

I’ve shared this poem before, but offer it again. It’s a stream of consciousness poem about prayer that I wrote awhile back about the thoughts under thoughts where prayers emerge.

A lot of us don’t know where to start with prayer. But we just need to start. Maybe your prayer will emerge when you write a poem, sit down with your guitar or at the piano, as you start to mix ingredients for a meal, or as you get out in nature and, in silence, look around at the world.

It need not be a pious moment, in a church, perfect or rehearsed. I hope this poem encourages you to find a way to authentically pray, in your own way.

When is a prayer

When is a prayer 
is a what is a prayer 
in your time 
is a
prayer 
in the now 

own it now 
say it now 

now 
pray it 
now 
know it 
now

now 
say it 
now
sing it now 
birth it now 
hear it 
now 
is a prayer 
is a yes is a prayer
is a thought is a prayer 

how 
is a thought 
is a prayer 
with a word 
is a prayer
with a song with 
a thought is a prayer 

now 
is a prayer 
is a word is a thought 
before word
before thought 
before prayer is a prayer 
under thought 

under thought is a prayer
under thought is a thought
underthought 
is a prayer 
underthought 
is a where 
is a thought 
is a prayer 

where 
is a prayer 
Underthought 
under skin under thought 
under how 
under thought 
is a prayer 
is a song 
is a word 
in the now 
is a prayer
 
prayer 

song under thought 
in the when 
with the how 
under then 
under how in the word 
in the thought 
with the how is a prayer 
in the yes 
in the now 

prayer is a prayer is a song 
is a what is a thought 
in the now

what is prayer
now
what is
prayer
now 
what is
now
what
	

© 2024 Andrew Kooman