Bowie and Our Spiritual Journey

This past week has been a really rough one. We lost David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Dan Haggerty. Celine Dion lost her husband, followed two days later by her brother.  All five of these men were lost to cancer. Each one of them will be dearly missed.
 
I have been listening to David Bowie’s music all week. He has always been a favorite of mine. Thanks to my parents, I grew up listening to rock and roll music, and it and Bowie have always been a part of my life. It will always hold a special place in my heart, as will David Bowie.
 
As I spent time listening to Bowie’s music, I got to wondering about his personal thoughts and views on religion.  His music is so full of spirituality and often mentions God or religion, so how could I not wonder about it?
 
From what I have read, Bowie, like most of us, had questions about life—where do we come from, why are we here? His songs hint at the fact that he does believe in God, or at least, in something greater than ourselves. While I find that comforting in a way, I also find it heartbreaking. In an interview with Anthony DeCurtis, Bowie stated, “… I’m not quite an atheist and it worries me.” Towards the end of the interview though, Bowie said, “That’s the shock: All clichés are true. The years really do speed by. Life really is as short as they tell you it is. And there really is a God—so do I buy that one? If all the other clichés are true…Hell, don’t pose me that one.”
 
It is like he wants to believe in God, but doesn’t quite know how to.  Or, that he does believe in God but just doesn’t realize it. (Is that even possible? This is the reason I say heartbreaking above--because from everything I have read, he never declares that he definitely does believe in God. )
 
Which leads me in another direction. This may seem arbitrary, but I will circle back around. At the end, it should all come together and make sense. At least, I hope it does! Please bear with me here.
 
At the nonprofit where I work, we have a leadership program. It is designed to help young and mid-management professionals to enhance their leadership skills and integrate their Christian faith in the workplace. And, while I realize that I may be partial, it is a pretty great program. This past Thursday we held the graduation ceremony for the fifth class of participants.
 
Each year for graduation, we identify a class member who has excelled in the program and ask that person to give a speech on how the program has affected them. This year we chose a gentleman by the name of Mark Van Zant.
 
Mark gave a stirring and poignant speech—one that also got me to thinking. He talked about how our spiritual journey is very much like planning for vacation. The long and short of his speech highlighted the importance of planning for your trip, and especially how important it is to decide who you take with you on your journey. (He compared our spiritual journeys with preparing for trips or vacations here on earth.)
 
As we grow spiritually and learn more about God, if we are doing it right, we should want to be sharing God and His goodness with everyone we meet.  We should want to bring everyone we love and care about on our journey. We should want everyone we love and care about to learn about God and to become saved.
 
I truly believe our purpose here on earth is to love each other and help each other. We should be doing God’s work. We are His hands and feet here on earth. Our job is to show others what an amazing and great God our God is! Our job is to lead more people to God and helped them to be saved. That is what we are here for.
 
So, back to David Bowie, and thinking about his life and his incomparable body of work, and now his premature death—I can only think about how important it is that we lead others to Christ. While it may seem off base or weird, especially considering that I didn’t know Bowie personally, but I have become truly concerned with his soul. I want him to be in heaven. I want to believe that he believed in God. I want him to have been saved. Because of his music and his presence and light in our world, I came to care about him.
 
And, this leads me back to our true purpose here—to lead people to the Lord, so that they may be saved.
 
I don’t know about you, but there are plenty of people in my life that I love and care about, yet I am not sure if they are saved. It is something that I need to start talking to them about. And, it is something that can’t wait any longer. The time is now.
 
How about you? Are there people in your life that you are worried about? Share with them the story of Jesus. Tell them about God and how much He loves us. The time is now. Share your journey. Share your experience with God.
 
As for David Bowie, I come across an Instagram post from his beautiful wife, Iman. In this post Iman says, “The struggle is real, but so is God.” In keeping with my positive outlook on life for 2016, I am choosing to believe that this post is pointing towards God and good, loves and light.
 
In the comments section of the online post of Anthony DeCurtis’ interview, someone going by HeLives posted, “I believe since David had so much time by the Grace of our Great God, to 'ponder' Him, that he very much did. As one would expect anyone dying to do. Really look at all your 'options' you have considered, or delved into over the years. Who is anyone to say, he didn't cry out to God on his deathbed, at the thought… 'IS HE really Real?' And 'God, if you are, come to me now?' And don't anyone think for a moment, our God of Mercy, did not show David, 'Yes, I AM'.”
 
I choose to believe as HeLives does. I rather like the idea that David Bowie will be hanging out in heaven when I get there!

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