Dadurday: Installment #2

Happy Dadurday all.

First, a joke:  What do a church and a lazer fight have in common? 

pew pew pew

I've been asked to discuss my tattoos, which is awesome, because they mean a lot to me.  Each one tells a certain tale about my faith, and are built to remind me of what it means to be me in the Kingdom of God.    

The first two tattoos were done on my inner forearms, and were done as a pair.  They say 'Temple of God' in Greek and Hebrew, with Greek on the right and Hebrew on the left.  If you open the Bible at the two testaments, you'll see Greek on the right and Hebrew on the left: The Old Testament and the New.

I got them for my 19th birthday as a gift from my mom, and they mean a lot for that reason as well as the fact that they represent a truth in my life, that I am now the place where God means Earth, I am His temple, and He dwells in me.  

Next are the two 'gauntlet's' on my wrists: fire and water.  God lead the people of Israel out of Egypt with a pillar of fire and pillar of water (cloud), and so these represent the journey that I am being lead on through all of this life, a journey out of ignorance and into knowing, out of subjugation and into freedom.  As I've been in recovery, these have come to mean even more to me, as they represent the movement I am taking to move away from slavery and bondage and into true freedom of choice and responsibility.

The next most visible tattoo is one that is a work in progress.  It is a fox, snout covered in juice, as he eats from the grapes that surround his head.  This tattoo was inspired by scripture by way of the song "The Soviet" by mewithoutYou (which also inspired the title of that album), 'Catch for us the foxes, in the vineyard [which sneak in and eat the choicest grapes]'.  This is a reminder of the truth that words sneak, worm and wheedle their way into our hearts and destroy.  Foxes are fleet of foot, and words are even faster.  I mustn't let them steal from me what truth I know about myself.  

All of my tattoos were done by Dave and Robbie at Inkspot in Troy, and more beauty and truth has come into my life (not to mention sobriety and recovery) through that ragamuffin band of brotherly men than anyone could ever have expected.  

Next time I'll talk about the half sleeves, but I think this is enough words for today.  

Go forth and make beauty.