The Way

I watched a really good movie yesterday with my Tracy. It's called The Way. Evidently there is a path of 500 miles in Europe called the El Camino de Santiago. For centuries it has been a trail of pilgrimage for people for various reasons. It ends with the tomb of James the Apostle, and I don't know anything else. The movie was cool because the characters were all on the journey for different reasons. Like a very small Canterbury Tales. Nonetheless, it made me cry. Not the script. What moved me was the spirit.

I respect and am in awe of any man's attempt to know God. I am not one of those that hates religion because of the hypocrites. How can we be anything but hypocritical? We are human. If I want to see a hypocrite, the mirror is the best place. But I don't partake in the Institution of Church for my own reasons. I just don't like the "business" of it. I don't like that churches are run like any other franchise in America but with other adjectives that make everybody feel more churchy. I prefer to look at a sunset or a flower or a baby and see God. And worship Him. But that is just me. I appreciate the people that are doing their thing. Whether it is Baptist, Catholic, or Buddhist, I am impressed. It's the search and the effort that moves me. The beautiful idea that we can connect with God and that He wants to connect with us. It's why I dance and cry in church. I am touched in the deepest place in my heart. The cockles if you will.

And so I will go on today. I am searching and finding. I am seeing what I am and how base that is. And I am seeing the hope that I can be better. And sometimes I am better by just looking at something higher than I can be. It may be just another person's effort. A man walking on his knees to touch a landmark on a pilgrimage, an ornate ceremony in a huge cathedral that makes no sense, or throwing ashes in the ocean. It's good to have a soul.