Want a prayer life? Make films, hot mics on Costco customers and croissants that will save your weekend
Three things from the week and a poem about pathfinding
Hello March! Are you counting the days until Spring?
I saw my first robin a few days ago, which reminded me of my Oma and Opa. They had a beautiful painting of a red-breasted robin in their little home in Red Deer.
This week week we remembered my dad who was a Leap Year baby. He would have been 18 years old, finally able to vote. We raised dipped cones in his honour and continue to miss him greatly and celebrate his life.
Whatever you’re remembering or looking forward to, thanks for spending some time this weekend with Things I Wrote Down.
Now here’s a few links from the week and a poem about pathfinding (that kinda terrifies me, in a good way).
1. Want a prayer life? Make films.
Maybe the reason Matt, Dan and I became filmmakers is because God wanted us to have a prayer life.
All creativity, I find, is a journey of faith: you step into the unknown, you tackle something so much greater than you can do in your own strength, you partner with others toward a common goal and take risks.
This weekend over at
we shared a new behind the scenes clip from our first steps into the Daniel project. Who knew a flamboyant world leader’s loose lips could impact a biblical film in a foreign country!2. Hot mics on Costco customers.
A thought came to me today when we were at Costco. (It's a weekly tradition: after the kids’ swimming lessons we take them for a cheap lunch: we're cheap dates pleased by cheap thrills over here at the Kooman household).
So I was thinking, as I purchased the Oscar issue of Vanity Fair (30% off for members): you know how networks will mic professional athletes on game day so you can hear what it's like from the nice or the field? How interesting it would be to hot mic Costco shoppers and get their mutterings and internal thoughts for all to hear.
This weekend would have been fascinating. Shoppers were especially cranky, the aisles were crammed with carts, and borderline running people over.
But Business Insider reports that the shoppers aren't angry at Costco, just the people in the way of the deal.
The typical customer visits Costco every two weeks or so — about 30 trips per year — and spends about $100 per trip for a total annual expense of $3,018.
So, the questions are:
What would people hear if you wore a hot mic at Costco? and
Is it even a real visit if you don’t spend $400?
2. These croissants will save your weekend
Speaking of cheap thrills…
We started to buy frozen croissants at Costco. Before you judge me, try it. If I lived if France I'd walk to a boulangerie every day and buy them fresh. But I ain't in France.
This video helped me convert the oven time to air fry time.
14 minutes at 320 F. All you need is the jam. Melt-in-your-mouth delight!
Poem - I who am
This poem came to mind, one of my 80 poems from the lockdown (an writing exercise I undertook on my IG during the pandemic, when we thought the lockdown might be a week).
Heaven’s longing for our whole selves sometimes terrifies me. This poem explores that.
I who am
I who am entering
the heavens with a spear
to rend and slice the sky
as a hunter guts a
wapiti
will unveil mysteries
in the path you walk
as a warrior lines out
entrails
to dry in the sun
arms stained in blood
from knuckle to elbow
I who am entering
the atmosphere
with no instrument but
a hollow throat
to shout a thunderous cry
as the sky streaks fire at my
velocity
will pull back the string of the bow
aim the arrows held in my five-fingered
hand
send a volley of such violence
into the hardened meat of your heart
deliver a wound deeper
than any fatal blow I would
inflict upon an enemy
I who am entering
the world again
light and spry as a pathfinder
panting like a wolf
hungry for flesh
after a long, terrible winter
will find a way
through the ice melt and
forests
over land and snow
to cure you of your foreign diseases
scare off the ghosts that
hide between wafts of smoke
bring you home
© 2024 Andrew Kooman