Even though we are in Tanzania right now, I thought it was time to go back a few months and share the story of Team Wreckonciled’s tattoo experience in Thailand. While tattoos are sometimes a controversial subject back home, they are sort of like a World Race rite of passage. Tattoos in Thailand…we had all read blogs about it before coming on the Race, and when our turn came we each had to pray about what we thought we would like to have on our bodies for the rest of our lives. If you know me at all, you know that I HATE needles. I’ve either thrown up or fainted after every single shot or IV that I’ve had in my life. So why in the world would I get a tattoo?
Jesus Culture has a song called You Won’t Relent that our squad really likes. The lyrics are as follows:
You won’t relent until you have it all
My heart is yours
You won’t relent until you have it all
My heart is yours
Come be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me
Until you and I are one
I don’t want to talk about you
Like you’re not in the room
I want to look right at you
I want to sing right to you
I’ll set you as a seal upon my heart
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is a strong as death
Jealousy demanding as the grave
And many waters cannot quench this love
The lyrics are great, but I especially like the last part. It’s a paraphrase of some verses from Song of Solomon. As I was thinking about getting a tattoo, those lines came to mind. I thought that anything I permanently ink onto my body better be something that God would like sealed on my arm. Like a life calling. As the month in Thailand went on, one passage from the Bible kept coming back to me over and over again. It’s a chapter that I have loved for awhile, but it took on special significance in Thailand. You can read the amazing story of all that God used us to do in Chiang Mai in a series of blogs that I wrote starting with THIS ONE. At the end of the month I saw a T-shirt from the ministry we were working with that had the same passage printed on it. It turned out to be their theme verse, and that’s when I knew that it was the right thing to have tattooed on my wrist. I wanted to place this verse as a seal on my right arm because I feel like it encompasses a lot of what God has called me to do with my life. The passage is Isaiah 61. It’s the first thing that Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth at the start of his ministry, and the first four verses read as follows:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion-
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
