Have you seen "Chariots of Fire"?  Winner of the 1982 Academy Award for Best Picture, "Chariots of Fire" tells the story of two runners, Eric Liddell, a Scottish Presbyterian, preparing to join his family's Christian mission in China, and Harold Abrahams, a British Jew, son of a wealthy family who is attending the University of Oxford.  As the movie unfolds, it follows the running careers of both men, their successes and plaudits received and, eventually, how their paths converged at the 1924 Olympics.

    At the Olympics, Abrahams ran and won the 100 meter run, and Liddell, after refusing to participate in a qualifying heat for the same race because it was held on Sunday, his sabbath, later raced in and won, in world record time, the 400 meter run.  Before the race, Abrahams admitted that winning the 100 meter race would be his ultimate defining experience.  His life's point depending on him winning that race.  As he watched Liddell's joy as he ran the 400 meter, however, he was shaken:  though he had found no essential joy in his success, Liddell seemed to be experiencing precisely the opposite.  Why?

    The movie leads the audience to answer the question for itself.  I mention "Chariots" because Vangelis, as he is commonly known, the Greek born writer of its memorable soundtrack, passed away last week at the age of 79.  We all wonder about the point of our lives.  Do we live our life in quest of an ultimate experience or do we live it by acknowledging our place in a larger framework of ultimacy and meaning?