Dear Friends,

I’ve done it -- the long awaited tattoo is permanently inscribed upon my inner arm. And in case you were wondering if this 57 year old Baptist pastor’s wife has lost her marbles, I assure you that this was no mid-life lark. When the idea first came to me a couple of years ago out of the blue, that’s all it was – a wild idea that Joe and I had some fun tossing around. At the time, I didn’t dream that God had anything to do with it. Then, last summer I shared my idea with some college students to provoke a discussion about how we make decisions as those in whom God’s Spirit dwells. What I really wanted them to grab a hold of was how intimately the Spirit wants to lead us as we learn to walk in God’s Word and seek His heart in all we do. Through that process it began to dawn on me that indeed the Lord had been the One gently nudging me from the start, so I started praying in earnest about the what and why and when of making the big jump.

I knew at once what the tattoo was to look like (thanks brother Gary for that beautiful logo so long ago), and had some sense of why (more about that later). All that was left was the ‘when’. A couple of weeks ago I arrived in Hawaii for a cruise to celebrate my mom’s 80th birthday along with my sister, Sue. As I was flying over, it came to me that it was time to actually do it, and I knew that she, always loving a new adventure, would spur me on. That’s exactly what she did – she got recommendations from an experienced friend, found the place, helped me process the logo, and at 8pm last Saturday night, my mom, sister and I stepped into another world altogether. Though we felt and looked completely out of place, no one seemed to give us a second look as a kind-eyed young artist with a gentle smile and tattoos on his every visible body part, took my sketch and turned it into reality. He was especially concerned that mom would be pleased with his work, asking her opinion first. (She likes it, by the way).

As far as why the Spirit might lead me to do this, let me first say that I know some struggle with this and I do understand. It has been a process for me, and I am not trying to change anyone’s opinion. Some have offered Leviticus 19:28 to suggest tattooing is unbiblical, but no one I know would ever try to live by the detailed code outlined in the book of Leviticus. A few verses earlier the Jews were forbidden to wear any garment with more than one kind of fabric, so are we going to throw out all our rayon blend blouses and shirts? I won’t take the time to debate this point – you can find dozens of discussions about it on the web, but will just say that I believe that the New Testament makes it clear that I am not required to live under the ceremonial laws that were established for the Hebrew people in that time and place – circumcision and eating meat sacrificed to idols being two examples.

Through the months as I prayed about the decision in order to really understand God’s heart, two things kept coming back to me. The first and most important, was that God wanted to use it to help open doors for me to connect with people from completely different backgrounds, particularly young people who felt disenfranchised from the church or who’d never darkened its doors. I am excited to see how this is going to pan out. The second thing was that He wanted to free me (and perhaps some others along the way) from a spirit of religion that causes us to live by a list of do’s and don’ts and then judge others on that basis, instead of walking in personal communion with God’s Spirit, seeing people as God does – from the inside out.

But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Romans 7:6