God Exists In A Typical Tattoo Ink

What is important enough for you to put on your body forever? Here is something you don't want to forget and might be tattoo worthy.

I’ve never been a tattoo guy.

I don’t have anything against tattoos, but I’ve never had anything I wanted on my body for the rest of my life. I enjoy looking at other people’s tattoos and hearing the stories behind what they’ve inscribed on their arms, backs, chests, heads. There’s usually a story, but I just hadn’t found a story I wanted printed on me.

Until a few weeks ago.

What Happens in Vegas…

While I’ve never been a tattoo guy, I understand the pull of it. So, I’ve told each of my kids when they are old enough (18+), that I’ll go, get, and pay for a tattoo with them. The only criteria are they research where to go and tell me the idea of what they want several months in advance. Up until mid-August, none of them had taken me up on it.

I made the same offer to my son, who is now in California, as we drove through Las Vegas (what better place to get a tattoo!). He latched onto my offer and ran with it, so now I have a tattoo.

To be fair, it was an idea I’ve had for over 20 years. I knew if I ever got a tattoo, this would be it.

It comes from a book I read all those years ago, which shared a fable about a village with collective amnesia. To fight their memory loss, they labeled everything around them—chairs, doors, chickens, goats.

The author's point was we need to remind ourselves that God does exist. Think about it for a moment. How often do you go about life thinking and acting as if God doesn’t exist?

In my life, too often.

The simple tattoo on my wrist reminds me God exists¹. I want to believe and operate in ways that inform the world around me that there is a God.

The Gateway + Peace

One of the warnings I’ve often been told about a tattoo is the first one is the gateway to many more. They’re addictive (which is why I’m sure we see so many people with their entire bodies tattooed). While I couldn’t imagine myself with even one tattoo for most of my life, I almost immediately had an idea for the next (for when the next kid takes me up on my offer).

The first of many??

I don’t know exactly what it will be, but it will be tied to a passage I read the morning after my tattoo experience:

“Peace be with you.” -John 20:19

These were the words Jesus spoke as he entered the room the disciples were hiding in after his death. Standing before these dismayed followers of the one they believed would lead them into glory is something so much better…the embodiment of peace. Jesus is living, breathing peace.

Nothing has changed in 2,000 years; when Jesus enters the room, he is peace. Ah, but it is much greater than this.

As a follower of living, breathing peace, the same is true for me. When I enter into a space (a room, a car, a home, a park, a stadium), I carry with me Jesus’ peace. And I can offer it to all who want or need it.

That’s worth putting on my body.

“Peace be with you.”
-Jesus

1. In my case, “Deus exstat,” which is the phrase in latin. One of the biggest concerns I had was making sure the translation was correct. I must have spent a couple of hours researching and checking, double checking and triple checking the translation. I’ve heard the horror stories of getting tattooed only to find out the translation is completely wrong. I’m 99% I got it right.