I recently had an unexpected (yet MUCH needed) personal encounter with Jesus.
The cool thing about this
encounter is the location in which it took place and whom Jesus used to meet me
in this experience. Dare I be brave and
say that it consisted of being outside of church walls, and through a person
who looked like anything but a pastor?
Straight up- Jesus met me
in a tattoo shop in a small, Mennonite town.
Jesus spoke to me through a pointed bearded, tattooed arms, multiple
piercings on his ears, motorcycle riding, self-acclaimed “I am a sinner”, tattoo
artist. Wait…did I forget to mention
that this same self-acclaimed sinner was now, more importantly, of royal blood?
A Son, bought for with a price, of the Lord Most High. This same man was a Jesus-loving, dedicated
husband whom God used to speak more Biblical truth into my life than I’ve heard
for a while. He didn’t speak from a
pulpit and he was most certainly not wearing his ‘Sunday best’ (yet still
totally professional) but what he shared was raw and real. Open and vulnerable, not hidden behind a mask
or a fake smile. It is true folks! IT IS possible!
Simply put, I was there
to walk in, get my second tattoo (with hopefully a limited amount of pain in
the process) and walk out. Jesus had something
else in mind. He wanted to ‘wake me up’
through this tattoo artist. Jesus wanted
to remind me that we are all sinners but that doesn’t change just how much He
(Jesus) loves me, and you, despite how we try to hide behind our ‘perfectly
sinless’ lives (ya’ll know what I am talking about). Reality is, I am a
sinner. Yet one of the cool things about
who Jesus is, is that He still cause me ‘child’. He still calls me ‘daughter of the King Most
High’. He still relentlessly, lovingly
pursues me even when I try and push Him away when I fail to see His Goodness
and faithfulness in my own life. He
still straight up loves me regardless of how messy my life is. If that isn’t a display of love and grace…I
don’t know what is. Thank you JESUS for
the work You did on the cross for a sinner like me.
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As strange as it sounds,
I cannot remember a time in recent weeks that I felt as much peace as I did
while I was allowing my body to be poked time and time again. I found myself becoming mesmerized as I
watched the ink flow through the tool and the design begin to take shape just
above my inner right ankle. A (base)
design that started off as a ‘lucky find’ on Pinterest but that has now (thanks
to the artistic skills of my tattoo artist) become a tattoo uniquely my
own.
A tattoo that holds scriptural
truth from Micah 6:8 that changed the direction/focus of my life when I first heard
it during my first year of Bible College.
A tattoo that captures Africa, a place/continent that challenged what I
thought I knew and understood about Micah 6:8.
The same continent that also ‘rocked’ my faith foundation as I began to
discover a living, active God through the lives of the African people and
culture. My times/experience in Africa,
would only be the start of my adventures with Jesus around the world. An experience I will forever be grateful
for.
My tattoo includes a last minute
decision to add a single strand of wheat and was done in honour of my late
Grandpa. My grandpa spent his entire
life farming and providing the base ingredient that would feed more mouths of people
than I will ever know. That same single
strand of wheat, has now taken on dual meaning as it also represents scriptural
truth found in Luke 10:2. This verse coincides
with my inner desire that God will use me in HIS harvest, while living out
Micah 6:8, regardless of where I am in the world. Finally, the broken/incomplete lines that
make up the globe, represents the brokenness and pain in this world. Brokenness and pain that will one day be
fully restored by Jesus and the Biblical truth found in Revelation 21:4.
For an added, unexpected
bonus, my new tattoo will now have another meaningful moment behind it. A forever reminder of a brief 1.5 hour
powerful encounter with Jesus. An
encounter with Jesus through a pointed bearded, tattooed arms, multiple
piercings on his ears, motorcycle riding, self-acclaimed “I am a sinner”. Yet also a dedicated husband and chosen son,
who was bought with a price, of the Lord Most High…a Jesus-loving tattoo artist.
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“He has shown you, O mortal, what is
good. And what does
the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love
mercy and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
“He told them, “The harvest is
plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to
send out workers into his harvest field” Luke 10:2
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be
no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has
passed away." Revelation 21:4
