Praise the Lord

I recently bought tickets to my favourite Christian Pop singer...Michael W. Smith. I'm going with one of my kid's daycare providers. I swear I know about 95% of this guy's music and I'm not shy about it. Yeah, my husband can attest to this.

But everytime I tell my co-workers, there's a mixture of laughter, comments on me being a goof, and those cheering me on. That's because I'm not religious. What I mean is, I don't pray to a god of any sort. People find it odd that I would go to a Christian Pop concert when I don't believe in "the" big guy.

And sure enough, someone questioned me on this. I don't know if this was pure curiousity or if they were miffed that a non-believer would go to something like this.

I explained a couple of things to this person. First of all, music transcends all cultures. Like food, music is a constant and present in every culture around the world. And if it sounds good, then why shouldn't I listen to it?

Secondly, just because I don't believe in the big guy himself (and I have no issues with others believing in him), it doesn't mean that I don't believe that there is something greater out there than what I know. I'm merely human and there are times that I think that there must be something bigger. But what that is, or who that is...I'm not sure. But because I don't believe in the guy...that precludes me from going to a concert?

Thirdly, I try to live a good and honest life. That means no stealing, treating people with respect, loving my family, etc. You get the drift. All religions in some form or fashion ask for these types of things. Does this make me any less worthy to go see a pop star?

And the words in these songs can be understood in so many ways. For example, one of my favourite songs is Never Been Unloved. The word god is never mentioned. It's basically about a person who has never felt unloved because he's always been surrounded by love since the day he was born. You can see that as having a strong family, strong community...just so much love around him. How can this be bad? So maybe I see the words differently....

Perhaps what people have an issue is that I don't have faith. But that's not entirely true. Faith is defined a number of ways...mainly having confidence and trust in a person or thing without proof. I have faith in my family, faith that my friends are there for me, faith that if you work hard, you will be recognized, faith that mankind can be good and that faith comes in many forms. And how is faith in other things any less important than having faith in a deity?

I don't think person liked my answer, but I didn't really care. I don't question their faith because it's theirs. And I don't get pissed with them because they go to certain pop concerts. So, I will merrily go to my Christian Pop concert in July and not apologize for one moment.

Oh yeah Miss N, you know what I'm doing...pounding my chest with my one fist and waving it...I'll be thinking of you when he sings Friends that night.