MAiD input so lame; Little House streaming on the prairies; Wes Huff's paralytic healing

3 Things this week and an Ingalls Wilder quote

Welcome to the sixth week of 2025. With so much news breaking and things happening, it feels like it’s been six months.

It’s a fun time to be alive! And it’s amazing you’re even reading this, given that its Super Bowl Sunday and the world of communicators are aggressively after your attention.

In Canada, that means we’ll get all the good commercials on YouTube and watch under-produced local commercials during the Game, for the most part. Big brands are spending $8 million to broadcast their advertisements. And most have bigger budgets for 30 second ads than indie filmmakers ever get their hands on. Which is your annual reminder to go into advertising.

There will be lots of nervous marketing execs and creative teams cope-snacking all day. I always love the week-after the Game, when all the ads have been analyzed by critics and the masses.

Before the big game, here are 3 Things that stood out to me on the web this week, and a passage from Laura Ingalls Wilder that made me cry as I read it to my kids.

1. MAiD input so lame

Did you know that the “national conversation” the Canadian government promised as it expands MAiD even further is done in a week? When the government decided to stop enforcing the law when Quebec started to implement pre-approvals for MAiD, they said they wouldn’t recommend the criminal acts to law enforcement, but would deeply engage Canadians to see what they think.

This is the extent of that government led convo:

• invitation only round tables between Nov - Feb (with Christmas and Trudeau's prorogued Parliament, government hasn't been in session)

• this online questionnaire that will be open to the public until February 14, 2025

Forgive me if I’m late to the party, but which of these two things makes this either national or a conversation?

I looked at the survey in depth last night.

The government is considering allowing individuals with high blood pressure, to pre-approve their euthanasia, noting that living with such a medical condition could lead to a severe stroke (that would leave individuals incapacitated and therefore unable to request MAiD when they want it most).

I encourage you to take the survey, answer honestly, and pray for Canada that this new expansion doesn’t become legal in every province. It will be a nightmare for doctors and for families.

2. Little House streaming on the prairies

This week I learned with a lot of you that Netflix is working on an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved Little House on the Prairie series.

We’re currently in the midst of the books and read them to our kids at night. I’ve not read them before, but am falling in love.

The Internet is asking: Will it be woke? Will it tell new stories? Will it be beloved? Melissa Gilbert who played Laura in the original TV series had this to say, to Deadline:

there’s room in the Little Houses universe for all different kinds of stories to be told, just like there was always room in the Little Women universe to keep retelling that story.

However it turns out, what a testament to the enduring appeal of a lovely set of stories.

3. Wes Huff's paralytic healing

Even though I still haven’t watched the viral interview with Canadian apologist Wes Huff, I started following him on X.

He shared this amazing testimony of healing this week, a miracle he experienced 22 years ago when, as a kid he went paralyzed.

If you need encouragement or your faith stirred about a God who heals, I encourage you to check it out.

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Have you checked out The 49 yet? It’s my new fiction series. New content each week. I just dropped uninterrupted audio for parts 1 - 4. I’d love to know what you think.

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A quote

It’s been a real joy to read the Little House books each night to the kids. We’re in the middle of The Long Winter.

I had to fight through tears (and laughter at the tears) as I read this passage to the kids last night. Laura and Carrie just about walked into the open prairie in the midst of a sudden blizzard, and would have been lost forever. But then Laura walks into the edge of the outmost building of the little town and they're saved.

Little happenstances like this take place throughout the series. God's silent hand of mercy at work. As they warmed up by the fire in their home, Laura observed the following, which I hope you enjoy as much as I did:

It was so wonderful to be there, safe at home, sheltered from the winds and the cold. Laura thought that this must be a little bit like Heaven, where the weary are at rest. She could not imagine that Heaven was better than being where she was, slowly growing warm and comfortable, sipping the hot, sweet, ginger tea, seeing Ma, and Grace, and Pa and Carrie, and Mary all enjoying their own cups of it and hearing the storm that could not touch them here.