Go Beyond

I don’t have a tattoo and don’t plan to get one, but I am, nevertheless, intrigued by them. Several of my good friends have tattoos and interesting stories about why they got them. Some bear tattoos that predate their walk with Christ and were thoughtlessly acquired on a dare or on a drunk. By the looks of some of these tattoos, they were also short on cash. A couple of my friends have colorful and intricate tattoos that hold special meaning to them. One of my friends who served in the Marines has the words “Semper Fi” etched on the inside of his bottom lip — yes, on the inside. So, believe it when you hear folks say that Marines are tough!

I have a missionary friend who works in the Amazon jungle and who looks a bit like Tarzan. He has lived in the jungle so long that he is an expert marksman with a blowgun. I have actually watched him blow one dart into the spine of another dart from twenty feet away. Robin Hood would be envious. Jeremy has a cross tattooed on one of his arms and the Hebrew word for “prophet” stamped across his other arm. He is an imposing presence as he navigates his boat down the Amazon.

A couple of years ago I attended a fellowship to celebrate the first anniversary of the sobriety of a young man living in a recovery community. His testimony was a woeful story of a childhood steeped in abuse, teenage years spent wandering the country as a runaway, and the eventual intersection of his broken life with a healing community. As this young man related his story, he made a fist with his left hand and held it out for us to see. The letters c, t, e, and d were etched just below each of his four knuckles. Then he made a fist with his right hand and held it out. The letters r, e, j, e were tattooed below each of the knuckles on this hand. When he placed his left fist next to his right fist the message became clear — Rejected.

Last week I stopped by a local store to pick up a few items. When I approached the cash register I greeted the young cashier. She smiled and nodded a greeting in return. As she reached for the items I had placed on the counter, I noticed the word “Pain” tattooed in large two-inch gothic letters along the inside of her forearm. My mind immediately raced with questions. What had motivated this cute young lady to have the word “pain” permanently etched on her skin? Why had she chosen to have this particular word placed in such a prominent place on her body? Most people try to forget painful things but this young lady had chosen to have a permanent reminder of some painful experience indelibly marked on her body. I thought of Jabez, the Old Testament character whose mother named him “pain” (1 Chron. 4:9).

Yesterday, I met a young man from Ukraine who recently moved to the States to help his mother run her small business. When I told him that I had visited Ukraine, we had a pleasant conversation. As we were talking, I noticed the words “En Dios Confio” tattooed in fancy serifed letters across his left forearm. I smiled and asked him why a guy from Ukraine had chosen to have the words “In God I Trust” tattooed on his forearm in Spanish. He smiled back and replied in distinctively Russian brogue, “Because I like the way it sounds and I want to learn to speak Spanish.” Good enough! At least he chose to have a positive message to look at every day.

I am intrigued by tattoos because I am interested in people. When I am around others I try to listen for and to notice anything that might help me understand something about them — what they have been through or what they are currently experiencing. I have learned that it’s difficult to make meaningful connections with others if we fail to express an interest in them. People matter to God and they should matter to us. So, keep your eyes open for tattoos and other clues that can help you to understand the people around you. And then, love, care, and express an interest in them as Jesus would.