Who are the "Cowboys of Coronado"?

When I was a kid, my hero was Indiana Jones. So much so, in fact, that I was Indiana Jones three -- count them, three -- years in a row for Halloween. Leather jacket, leather whip, fedora (the original hipster?). I was captivated by the Indiana Jones stories because I loved adventures. I wanted to explore places previously unknown, where danger lurked around every corner. What a fantastic rhythm for life: get an adrenaline dump exploring forgotten corners of the planet, experience several close shaves with death, return with treasures for the Smithsonian and stories for beautiful women. Life was too short for anything more mundane.

In "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," a young Indiana Jones recovers the Cross of Coronado from a gang of thieving treasure hunters because "that cross belongs in a museum" (a familiar line from Dr. Jones). As it turns out, neither the cross nor Cibola, "the city of gold" from which it supposedly came, ever existed. They were the stuff of legend. Fake. A pipe dream. Conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, the cross's namesake, was an actual explorer of the southwestern United States in the 1540's, his adventure, however his quest for Cibola and its treasures was a total letdown.

Some Spanish friar told Coronado that he had seen Cibola from a distance, confirming that the legendary golden city was real. And who wouldn't trust a friar? With visions of fortune, fame, and females, Coronado and his men were all in. Two years after the friar reported having seen Cibola, Coronado and his men reached "Cibola" only to find no gold. In fact, all that was there was one little adobe pueblo. And maybe some chickens.

And so it was: an adventure that had promised fame, fortune, and females left these men humiliated, broke, and lonely.

From Adam (the first man) to Vasquez de Coronado to a young boy wearing a leather jacket and a fedora in his grandparents' backyard...all men are on quests for fame, fortune, and females. Or put another way, all men seek fame, fortune, and females because they think that is where they will find what they are really after: purpose, significance, and intimate relationships.

These pages will serve as the annals for exploring and evaluating the adventures of modern man in light of the Gospel.