A Dare, A Tat, A Beer and a pound of chocolate cake.....

That about sums up my afternoon yesterday.

At Gracepoint Church, we do things a little differently, the pastor, Devin, does his messages as a 'series' so for three weeks, six weeks, or a similar amount of time, he will use a them and discuss the Bible. He has done such series' as: CSI (Crusafiction Scene Investigator) where he took an evidence trail to find out 'who crusified Jesus' (it turns out to be all of us, he died for all of us!!) and other great themes to get the word out. The next series we are going into is called 'Tattoo' and it is going to discuss what 'marks' us as people, I'm not exactly sure what angle(s) he is going to come at it, but knowing Devin, it will be good! Let's just say we are going to really step outside of the box for the series!!

My loving wife, K, made some excited comments about someone who is going to be getting a tattoo and I asked her when I was going to get mine (it's something I've wanted for quite some time) well, lets just say that she pretty much dared me, and said 'Get one tonight!' I said 'O.K., I will!'

After church we went to have lunch with Wojo and Jean, friends from GP, and the discussion came up, K mentioned a tattoo parlor we had heard good things about and the next thing we know, Wojo has his laptop out, has found the phone number, and is calling the place to make an appointment.... K and I went to the place early and looked at designs, chose lettering and waited (a busy tattoo parlor must be a good sign!) .. and waited. we spent the entire afternoon there and finally I was called in! The artist had been drawing up what I wanted, so I felt like a schmuck for having felt put-off by the time that it took to get to me.... Back east the artist would have taken the design and told me to come back in a couple of days when he had it all drawn up, this guy drew it freeehand and put the lettering on it freehand and it was ready to go!!! The guy looked a little intimidating, with a Slipknot shirt on and a bit of a brooding approach.... Again, I should smack myself for letting first impressions get to my thoughts, he was a really nice guy, was extremely easy on me, we talked about bass and motorcycles and stuff the whole time! An hour and a half after go time and he was done with the outline. I got a Celtic cross, so there was a lot of detail in the rope-work. I was stoked, it looked really good! We took a break so I could go to the bathroom and so he could get some fresh air (I bet staring at peoples arms/legs.backs could make your eyes go buggy after a while.) so another hour and a half later, it was finished. The fill-in work and shading wasn't on he original drawing, that would have taken a really long time, it looked even better than I could have hoped! Jay is certainly a pro! I will strongly recommend him to anyone who wants a tattoo (and has thought about the permanent nature of the art, and has made sure they aren't getting something they will regret... all improtant things to keep in mind)

I was touched the most by K's show of support, and the way that she showed me she cares. I was trying to think of what I had come up with (months ago) that I wanted to get wit my cross (I've known for a while that I wanted a cross to be my first tat) and at lunch she called it out like I had just told her what I wanted 'Lord Reign in Me' so an extra note of thanks and appreciation goes out to the LOML, thank you for listening to my silly ideas (some day they may become reality....)

I chose this phrase "Lord rign in me" because I have vises, we all do, and I've been trying for a long time (I've been leading worship to some degree for years and years) to get my mind in the right place, to remember that while I keep my words straight Sunday at church, I also need to keep them straight every day of my life. as a leader in the church, with any possibility that my actions might reflect negatively on my church life, I need to live my life for God, with God, and to live EVERY DAY like I do on Sunday. I can't help looking at this tatoo and singing the chorus to the song I got it from:

Lord reign in me, reign in Your power
Over all my dreams, in my darkest hour
You are the Lord of all I am
So won't You reign in me again

Wojo (the worship leader at GP) had just discussed a similar concept in our morning band meeting, and I just think it all came together for me. I need to get my temper under wraps, I need not sound like a sailor on shore leave when I'm out at bars, I need to focus my energy on me. I need to make sure I am living the way I should be, then I can truly feel better about my part in leading others in church. Thanks to God that he accepts all kinds and knows the meaning of the word forgiveness, only he knows how much I've been abusing that gift lately. Who knows, maybe my tattoo will start a conversation that leads someone to turn to God in their life. I can only pray that it will.


So there are tons of pictures from my experience!!!!