“He has told you , O mortal, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, and to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
“Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord,
Choose this day whom you will serve,…
But as for me and my house,
We will serve the Lord” Joshua 24:15
About 12 years ago when we moved to Georgia, we left Megan
and Kelly behind in Dayton. Both were in
college at the time, and we didn’t want to disrupt that, so Laurel, Sean,
Patrick and me moved to Georgia, and we got an apartment for Megan and Kelly in
Dayton.
The next summer, the girls moved to Georgia, and the first
Saturday they were here, Kelly and the boys were headed up to the pool. They went out the door and about a minute
later, Kelly was back in the house. She
said, “I figured the boys would tell you before too long, so I better tell you
now”. In those few brief seconds, probably
a hundred different horrible possibilities flew through my head at least, but
then Kelly lifted her shirt to show a tattoo she had gotten. You wouldn’t imagine the huge relief I had,
it paled compared to all of the things I imagined.
Twelve years later, after a trip to Asheville to visit Dave
Carr, a bond of getting a tattoo together with a dear friend, and the
unfortunate timing of visiting my Mom the next weekend, and I’m sitting here
thinking, my Mom is going to kill me.
What to do? How can I explain
this? Who can I blame….
I’ll blame Dave Carr!
– Dave has always been that “sandpaper on my soul”. A group of us formed our small group at
Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton back in the late 90’s, and we’ve
largely been together ever since. With
any group, we’re an eclectic mix, some conservative, some liberal, both theologically
and politically, I tend to lean conservative on many issues, both politically
and theologically, Dave tends to lean the other way. Over time, largely due to my small group, my
leaning has softened, I’m still a conservative in many respects, but I’m much
more willing to listen to the liberal viewpoint.
As I noted, Dave has always been the “sandpaper on my
soul”. We have always said in the small
group, “when I grow up, I want to be like Dave Carr”. Dave reads, he listens, he studies, he meditates,
he thinks. He has always challenged me,
and I can’t always say I’ve enjoyed those challenges. But I can unequivocally say, I’m a better
person because of those challenges.
Dave, and all of my small group members, has made me a much better
person.
But it’s more than that.
There have been times where I’ve faced struggles, and I’d be driving to
work in the morning, and my phone would be ringing. I’d look down, and see it was Dave on the
line. Now, I don’t know about everyone,
but I know when I am wallowing in self-pity, I like to stay there. But, I’d answer the phone, and Dave wouldn’t
allow that. He would check in, see how I
was doing, and ensure I was pointed forward rather than backward.
Two years ago, Dave and I tried to convince the entire small
group to get tattoos together, and that was met with a resounding thud. No takers.
When I told Dave I wanted to get one, and I told him what I wanted to
get, he said, “Let’s get it together.”
So, it’s Dave’s fault.
But no, Mom would never buy into blaming one of my small
group, she knows what they all mean to me, she knows what good men they are,
that won’t work, so maybe ….
I’ll blame Chris
Henry! – It was Chris who said, “If you want to choose a Scripture to take
literally, to make the center of your Christian discipleship, to shout on the
streets, write on a sign, tape on the wall or tattoo on your arm, this is the one.” Last year, when I was first contemplating
getting a tattoo, and Laurel and I were “negotiating” it, we were sitting in
church, and Chris spoke that line. I
turned to Laurel, and gave her that look, “See!
Chris said I should get a tattoo!”
I was sold then.
Mom would believe it, she has heard me sing Chris’
praises. She knows if Chris said to do
it, I’d do it. Recently, we were invited
to a fundraising lunch for Columbia Theological Seminary. A young lady called Laurel asking if we’d
attend, and when Laurel asked me, I said no.
Then I got an e-mail from Chris asking if we’d come, and I told Laurel
we were going. She got mad at me, and
said that was the same event she had asked me about. She said she told the young lady from
Columbia, you should have just had Chris invite Steve, that way you’d know he
would come.
And that is the power and the draw of Chris Henry. As I’ve been preparing for this weekend, I’ve
re-read his sermon with the “tattoo” line in it several times. It was last April, “Take This One Literally:
The Art of Neighboring”. As I’ve re-read
it, I started thinking, this may have been his best sermon. But then again, most of the time, when I read
his sermons, I think, this may have been his best sermon. The dilemma I faced was that the sermon was
referencing two passages from the Bible, and the key one for me at least was
Matthew 22:36-40. It wasn’t in my plans,
but it’s so incredible. Love God, love
your neighbor. The crux of being a
Christian. But I digress, I’ll get there
in a minute.
No, I can’t blame Chris.
Wow, I can’t imagine how that conversation would go. So maybe ….
I’ll blame Laurel! – I
wasn’t completely sold on this tattoo idea until I started going to yoga with
Laurel. She has been begging me to go to
yoga for years, and I finally succumbed last summer. It has been one of the best decisions I have
ever made in my life. So many of these people
that teach yoga and go to yoga classes have tattoos. And so many of them are such incredibly nice
people. They have such an inner peace,
they embrace the concepts of yoga, they live the practice. I’ve gotten to the point that I look forward
to seeing some of the people we practice yoga with as much as the practice
itself. There must be some correlation
here, not sure what it is, but how could I go wrong?
So, it must be Laurel’s fault. But no, I really can’t blame Laurel. Yoga has been one of the best things I’ve
ever done in my life, and Mom loves Laurel for the beautiful child of God she
is. No, that won’t work. Maybe ….
I’ll blame God! – Ah,
too many people have tried that, and really, I can’t go there. Well, …
I’ll blame me – Yes,
it’s time to face my Mom and say, blame me.
Blame me because I need a constant reminder of what the Lord requires of
me and who I am to serve. It’s not
enough that I look at those passages every single time I open the Bible, I need
to tattoo them on my arms to remind me constantly what I’m supposed to do. If I could carve them into my heart, I would
do that too.
It was easy to decide on Micah 6:8, that has been my “go to”
scripture for as long as I can remember.
I think many of us from Westminster lived that one, our youth choirs
often sang this, and so many of us grew up with children in the youth choirs, I
guess it just became emblazoned in our souls.
I’ve always loved this scripture, but I need a constant reminder of it,
and how to live it. When I told Dave
that was what I wanted to get as a tattoo, he was all in.
Joshua 24:15 seemed to have its own spiritual force, and to
be honest, I can’t explain it. Kelly got
us a picture that we hung in our kitchen, which was this verse, so I get to see
it, and embrace it every morning. Then,
I was asked to join the Stewardship Committee this year at Shallowford, and the
theme was Joshua 24:15, and I have to admit, I got goosebumps. It seemed to have a life of its own.
Which brought me to my dilemma. How could I ignore the pull of Matthew
22:36-40? That was the one of course
that Chris said, “tattoo it on your arm”.
Yes, quite a struggle for me. I
was set on Micah 6:8, but should I abandon Joshua 24:15? In the end, I stuck with “my house will serve
the Lord”, which to me also means I will love God and love my neighbor. But I have also thought, what other appendage
could use a tattoo? But again, I
digress.
One last
thing and then I’m done. A dear friend
Jeff Poynter shared his daughter Riley’s blog about her internship with
Engineering Ministries International. He
commented, “It may rival your writing ability!”
Quite frankly, no, it far surpasses it.
As I have often found in life, we can really learn a lot from the
younger generations, they have so much to offer if we’d just listen. She has some beautiful words about her
internship, but a few points I loved from the very beginning. She talks about “wasteful adoration” and
“thanksgiving”. And yes, my tattoos are
wasteful adoration. God knows what is in
my heart, I don’t need to tattoo it on my arm.
But my thankfulness for all He has given me makes me want to shout it on
the streets, write it on a sign, tape it on a wall, and yes, tattoo it on my
arm. Blame me.
“If the oceans roar Your greatness so will I”
