Michael's Tribute

MOM! THIS IS THE BAND THAT DID THAT SONG ABOUT THE COLORS!!!

With that statement one day in Wal-Mart in 1984, I talked my poor mom into buying me the cassette that changed my life and the lives of everyone around me. And that's no exaggeration! Not Of This World did not have "The Coloring Song" on it... I would rediscover it later on Never Say Die... but my appreciation for Petra has continued from then until now: May 12, 2005, the day Petra will announce their retirement.

That's What I Like About You

The first thing that ever attracted me to Petra was The Lyrics. I mean, face it... "The Coloring Song" ain't exactly an all-out rocker. But the Lyrics... so simple, so poetic, and so true! But as a 14-year-old in the middle of The Video Music Era, a little rock & roll was right up my alley too! I think Not Of This World was the first rock tape I ever had. I loved all of those synths... and the guitars... the excitement! I finally felt like I didn't have to totally miss out on the rock music styles the other kids at my school listened to. 'Course, they weren't listening to PETRA... but I felt like I was able to rock a little bit, at least on my own. Beat The System closely followed: the only cassette tape that I have legitimately worn out, from brand new, all by myself. Mom almost didn't get that one for me based on one of the song titles: "Witch Hunt." In case you weren't around at the time, these were the days when youth group record-burning parties were not unusual, and people were pretty concerned that rock & roll was going to seriously mess up their kids! But my folks cound see that this music was delivering the right messages to me, so over the years I managed to accumulate, some by special order (this was pre-Internet, so we're talking ordering through the local Christian bookstore) all of the other tapes up to that time.

That's What I Liked About You

Then came 1986. I still remember how excited I was when I managed to accidentally show up in the bookstore one day not knowing that a new Petra tape had JUST BEEN RELEASED! I also didn't know that the new tape was going to be quite a bit different from the previous ones. I was digging the techno vibe of Beat The System and was hoping for more of the same. (Remember, Video Music Era?) I was honestly a little disappointed at the time. This stuff wasn't the cool techno-rock I expected, and it wasn't even really the less-techno Eaglesey stuff from before... this was, like, POP MUSIC! I had Unguarded to listen to if I wanted pop, and even it seemed more rock than Back to the Street to me. I did like how they kind of referred back to my favorite tape in the bridge of the title track, though. But even though I wasn't as hip on the music, I hung in there. I knew good lyrics when I heard them. I still remember one day when my younger brother told me that as we were dozing off listening to "King's Ransom," he had one of those half-dreams that people have when they're not really all the way asleep... he saw Jesus on the cross, wearing a t-shirt that said "The Rose of Sharon." Hehe!

Smokin'!

I was in college at Oral Roberts University in 1988 when I bought the two-song cassette that excited me more than almost anything from Petra since those days in Wal-Mart and the Christian bookstore. The tape had a couple of the tracks from the new tape... or, by this time I guess I should say, the new CD... one song on each side. (I finally got a CD player the summer before I went off to college; Beat The System was the first Christian CD I ever saw, but the first CD I ever bought was A Place To Stand by Geoff Moore & The Distance. Don't worry... that CD has John Schlitt and Bob Hartman as guest performers!) One side of the tape had a fluffy ballad called "First Love" on it. The other side... oh, MAN! I almost screamed, I was so excited! THE ROCK BAND IS BACK!! The song was called "Mine Field" (without the now-legendary Schlitt yell that is on the CD), and the CD, On Fire!, renewed my faith in Petra as a rock band.

Live, In Person

Up to that time I had never had a chance to see Petra live. They had a concert scheduled where I lived in Louisiana on the Back to the Street tour, but it was cancelled at the last minute... I got into Petra too late to attend the huge Beat The System tour concert that had happened there. But in Tulsa... now I KNEW I would get to hear Petra live! In fact, I discovered that they were doing a concert-style video shoot downtown! And it was free to get in! WOO-HOO, I'm THERE, man!! Only problem was that I didn't have a car. And couldn't find a ride. Missing the "All Fired Up!" video shoot was one of the biggest disappointments for me.

A couple of years later, though, Petra came to the ORU campus with Josh McDowell to perform a REAL concert! No car necessary for that one... just a pair of legs! Petra Praise had come out by that time, so I was kind of expecting to hear some songs from that CD, but they mostly played stuff from On Fire!... which was okay with me too! The biggest thing I remember about that show, oddly enough, was that I ran into a former youth pastor of mine, and he slipped me some cash. I guess he remembered what it's like to be a college student! That just goes to show you how something like that can make a big impact on someone, even when you don't necessarily realize it at the time. I've seen Petra a number of times since then, and it's always been a terrific show.

Everyone Around Me

It would be easy to hypothesize that things changed for "everyone around me" just because of the Petra music playing almost non-stop wherever I was (including the sound system in my youth group meetings, if I had anything to say about it!) But the real story of the everlasting effect Petra had on my whole family began in 1998. By this time A Guide to Petra had been in existence for quite some time... it started out as a little custom DOS program that I posted on Compuserve, before most people had even heard of the Internet, much less any kind of "Web." It was basically just my reviews of the albums. Later I had recast the whole thing as a Web site, and that site has undergone a couple of massive changes since. At one time I was running a message board (it was actually a service that I was using to host my board), and someone posted that they had seen Petra in Tulsa. Are you in Tulsa? I asked. Turns out she was... and you can read the rest of the story here, but to make it short... we met, dated, and got married. There is a little five-year-old who is in existence now partly because his mommy and daddy were both fans of Petra.

And, back to me.

Wow... just over twenty years. Out of a lifetime of only 35 years. I think I've been listening to Petra longer than I've been doing almost anything else except breathing. We played a Petra song at my wedding. My son still considers himself John Schlitt's best friend. I've had the chance to work on several important (and not as important) Web sites because of Petra... in fact, it's because of A Guide to Petra that I am working as a professional Web designer/programmer today. What would my life have been like otherwise?

Hopefully, pretty much the same.

I believe that God's plans are going to happen one way or another if you continue to seek His will for your life. Petra has been in the background of my life for a long, long time, and a lot of the events that have happened in my lifetime have involved them... but if I believe that God ordained that I would meet my wife, make certain friends, whatever... if God ordained those events, then they would have happened, Petra or no Petra. But I do thank the Lord that Petra was willing to let Him use them in my life... they've been the soundtrack as I've been seeking His will for me.

Thanks, guys, for the great music!