Doug Van Pelt

A Special Shout Out...

I am so thankful for some of the people that God has brought into my life. Two people in particular I'd like to mention -- Robin Woods (now Robin Ligdon) and Carey Womack. Both were part of the circle of friends that included Paul Q-Pek and Lou Dignazio. We'd meet together at the KIXL radio station and wait for Paul to get off his shift (I think it was midnight), then we'd pray and head down to Liberty Lunch, a raging punk club in the early 80s, where we'd go to witness if necessary (!). We'd mostly just be there for people, pray silently for them, and strike up spiritual conversations when possible. People quickly knew us as Christians and some respected us for being there and not being pushy (but not backing down from the Truth).

The reason I'm thankful for knowing Robin and Carey at this stage in my Christian walk was that they listened to bands like The Alarm and Bruce Cockburn and Jeff Johnson and John Michael Talbot. They stretched me musically. They read authors like Francis Schaeffer, George McDonald, and (gulp) Watchman Nee. They were thinkers. They cared about social justice. They cared about the poor and missions. And they loved real punk sweat rock 'n' roll like The Alarm. I thank God that I rubbed shoulders with believers of such depth at this impressionable age of my early Christian walk. Being around them inspired me to have some depth, to sink some roots deeper than the "Praise the Lord, brother" superficiality that was easy to fake.

Wow, what a gift friendship can be.

And to think listening to The Alarm Standards this morning could spark such gratitude.

'Thank You, Lord, for your beautiful servants Carey and Robin. I pray that You would bless them from head to toe this day. Protect them and lavish Your rich love on them. And Lord, please heal Mike Peters of The Alarm. In Jesus' Name, amen.'