Pursue the Virtue of Contentment by Max Lucado

I found this today, and the message could not be more purposeful for me.  Hope you like it.

Pursue the Virtue of Contentment
by Max Lucado

A businessman bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. He once arrived to find the peddler closing up his stand at noon. "Is something wrong?" he asked. A smile wrinkled the seller's leathery face. "By no means. All is well."
"Then why are you closing your popcorn stand?"
"So I can go to my house, sit on my porch, and sip tea with my wife."
The man of commerce objected. "But the day is still young. You can still sell."
"No need to," the stand owner replied. "I've made enough money for today."
"Enough? Absurd. You should keep working."
The spry old man stopped and stared at his well-dressed visitor. "And why should I keep working?"
"To sell more popcorn."
"And why sell more popcorn?"
"Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell your popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea."
The popcorn man smiled. "I can do that today. I guess I have enough."
Wise was the one who wrote, "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income" (Eccles. 5:10 NIV).

A New Skin

I turned in my badge today.  I have officially left the pursuit of Community Peace, for my own.  There was a moment when I felt just a tinge of sadness, but it was fleeting.   Taking off the uniform for the last time, it felt as if I was shedding an old skin, to begin anew; a rebirth of sorts.   I still feel 16, even though the double nickel birthday is fast approaching.   I served my community well, and perhaps had a hand in changing a life somewhere.  But the Camino is calling me.  Come, come walk with me.  Tell me your stories and I will tell you mine.  I will come.

Hollywood gets the call

Spiritual 'Way' is a family affair

Estevez's fourth feature stars father, Martin Sheen

By MARTIN DALE

HIGH ART: 'The Way's' helmer and scribe Emilio Estevez pauses along the Camino de Santiago, which becomes a character of sorts in his film, about a journey of self-discovery. More Articles:

"The Way," Emilio Estevez's fourth feature as a writer-director, begins at the Camino de Santiago's start, in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, below the often-snowbound Route de Napoleon over the Pyrenees.

Starring Martin Sheen, Estevez's father, it takes in Galicia's improbable-looking Santiago de Compostela, a huge piece of medieval real estate topped by a jaw-dropping cathedral.

"The Way" ends near the Camino's end, at Muxia, on the Atlantic seaboard near Finisterre, which the Romans thought was the end of the world.

"Way" is about family, inspired by the Estevez-Sheen clan. As Galicians, the story is close to their hearts.

"My father said: 'How about going to Santiago? You take a couple of cameras, we'll just roll.' " Estevez recalls. "But I'm not a documentary filmmaker. I'm not good on the fly. I need a playbook."

Sheen plays Tom, an American widower who's in St.-Jean to reclaim the body of his estranged son, who died, lost on the Route de Napoleon. Tom cremates the remains, puts them in his son's backpack and starts off to complete the young man's journey.

"The Camino's a place of healing, of getting to the spiritual center of who we are, and ultimately how much we need," Estevez says. "The (current) downturn's not just an economic crisis. It's spiritual. We've been taught to want more: two cars, better clothing. But aren't relationships with others -- isn't family -- more important?"

The $5 million "Way" rolls Sept. 28.

Julio and Carlos Fernandez's Filmax Entertainment will produce "Way" out of Spain, with producers Estevez and Elixir Films' David Alexanian, who produced-directed road trip docu "The Long Way Down," with Ewan McGregor. They'll use entirely Spanish crew, Alexanian says.

That typifies the film's spirit.

"'Way's' a modern-day Yellow Brick Road, a four-hander: An American meets a Canadian woman, a Dutch man and a British writer. And off to Santiago they go," Estevez says. "America's built a wall around itself. Tom's emblematic of Americans becoming citizens of the world once again."

He hopes "Way" can work in Spain, so he has to get details right. He laces his conversation with Spanish, talking enthusiastically about his son, Taylor, living in Madrid.

"He's completely, how you say, Madrileno."

Estevez rolls the word in his mouth, as if savoring a good Rioja wine.