My upcoming Easter weekend.

Whenever I've lived by myself and could do as I pleased, I always spend Easter weekend watching three particular movies--Ben Hur, The Robe, and Demetrius & the Gladiators. I seem to get something far more spiritual from these films than I ever have from attending church. Why? I don't know, but I have over the course of many decades.

What I do know is that after fifty years, I still get goose bumps all over my body from watching the scene in Ben Hur where Charlton Heston's character, Juda Ben Hur, is chained to a gang of prisoners and is being marched across the Judean desert to Roman slave galleys without water. They stop at a small community to rest for a few minutes. The guards have told everyone not to give Ben Hur any water or else. Lying on the ground, barely surving the heat and terrible thirst, Ben Hur feels totally alone and forsaken in his unjustly plight. Suddenly, a hand reaches toward him, holding a gourd of water. Ben Hur stares unbelievably at the water and then looks up at the man who is risking the wrath of the Romans by helping him. Ben Hur then drinks the water quickly, until a guard approaches and kicks the gourd out of his hand. The guard then goes to strike the man who helped Ben Hur with a whip, but then steps back in awe or surprise. The man stands up and we only see him from behind, but we know it's Jesus. The guard backs away, unable to remove his eyes from him. The prisoners are then order to move on. As they walk away, Ben Hur keeps looking back at the man who just gave him the will to live against all odds.

Maybe it was the scene and the surrounding music that did it for me (the music is definitely inspiring in its majesty), but I truly love that special moment in Ben Hur. It never ceases to affect me whenever I watch the film. Of course, there's also the ending when Ben Hur's mother and sister are healed from leprosy by the power of the Christ when they see Jesus being led through the streets with the cross over this shoulder. I'm not a religious person. Spiritual to a certain degree, yes, but not religious in the tradional sense. Yet, those scenes tend to give me hope for humanity for some strange reason. It makes me a believer, if only for a few minutes of time.

Anyway, I'm going to pop some popcorn this weekend and have fun watching movies that inspire me to never give up in their own unique way. I hope everybody is able to find that something special this weekend that speaks to their heart and soul.