'All the world's indeed a stage'

Over the last several days, I've wrestled with what to say in response to Jason Wert's post "Rush and God." I'm just going to write from the heart and see what happens.
I first heard of Rush when I was 14. I distinctly remember one early time I heard one of their songs – probably "Limelight" or "Tom Sawyer." It was on a bus while on a Scout trip to Washington, D.C.
Over time, my affection for and interest in the band grew. I even attempted to play the drums, modeling myself after Neil Peart. This is hysterical because I have no natural sense of rhythm.
I can't say for sure but I do wonder sometimes how much of his work as a lyricist impacted my chosen profession as a writer. I think it had some influence.
Around the time I was 19, I met Christ in a real and personal way and spent time with people roughly my own age who'd had the same experience.
Up until about eight years ago, my last Rush concert was around the time I was 20. I still liked the band and eagerly awaited every album, but I felt conflicted at times about listening to and supporting a band whose members were – at minimum – agnostics if not atheists.
Allegations from fundamentalists who believed the "Red Star" of 2112 was more than just the symbol of oppression but rather an sign of allegiance to Satan didn't help either.
In late 1998, I'd just been through the loss of my mother when I learned Neil Peart suffered two personal losses – his wife and daughter. My interest in the band renewed and I waited for the band's triumphant return on "Vapor Trails."
I took my wife along for the VT show and she likes the band now too.
Then, we went with a friend to see the opening show of the band's 30th anniversary tour in 2004. That friend, his wife and two children died in a automobile accident in Arizona four years ago this month. The day after the Rush show was the last time we saw them alive.
He was a drummer and she was a graphic artist. They'd moved to Nashville so he could pursue his passion. They later moved to Arizona to help out with a church.
I sat in my car crying the day after we learned of their deaths and listened to and sang the words to "Afterimage" over and over. "Suddenly you were gone; From all the lives you left your mark upon."
So, word of a new Rush album and tour began to spread later that year. In 2007, I began to introduce my young daughter to the band. She stayed with some friends and my wife and I went to see Rush on their tour-opening stop in Atlanta, Ga. We felt like we owed it to our friends. I sang the words to "Mission" in their memory. "A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission."
I still continue to grapple with the conflict between who am as I believer and the enjoyment I get out of being a Rush fan.
I've prayed for God to just shut off this desire if it's not something that pleases him and I hope I haven't ignored what may have been quiet whispers in this direction.
I've met dozens of other Rush fans at other shows and my daughter went with me to one when she was a little more than 2 and a half.  Why would I do this?
Fortunately for her, she has a sense of rhythm and I believe Peart, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are the among if not the best at their instruments. My wife couldn't go to the show in New Orleans in April 2008 because she started a new job and the show was rescheduled from a Saturday to a Sunday.
So I drove to New Orleans, went to a hotel not far from the arena, met up with some fellow Rush fans at a restaurant and walked to the show. An online friend met us at the arena and when they said no backpacks – my daughter's diaper bag was a backpack – we left the bag in our friend's vehicle and I stuffed two diapers in my back pocket and went in the arena.
She loved it and still remembers several aspects of the show.
So we're planning to go see them again this tour – hopefully with everyone along for the trip.
Where am I on the aspect – and question – of the influence?
I believe that many people who are like the guys in Rush haven't truly encountered genuine believers – people who do their best to make their actions and their faith match. They've seen the ridiculous roadside church signs and at least one member has said the church just looks like an exclusive club. It's so much more than that and I long for Rush and their fans to discover what authentic Christianity looks like.
My wife recently got a tattoo with the Hebrew word for "redeem."
She says she got it because she believes God can redeem anything if we let him.
I'm trusting him in believing that all this energy, time and money spent supporting Rush will somehow be of benefit to him and his kingdom.
Over time, as I've contemplated my own mortality, I've thought about wanting two things to happen at my funeral. I would like whomever delivers the message that day to give people an opportunity to consider and accept Christ as their savior and Lord – for all time.
But I also want them to hear "Limelight." "All the world's indeed a stage and we are merely players, performers and portrayers; each another's audience; outside the gilded cage."
When the curtain closes, I want to hear my Lord say: "Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done."
What do you struggle with as an obsession or long-term habit and how do you think God could you use it for his glory?


Blogger's note: All lyric references in this post are the copyrighted works of Rush, not mine.