“Make a memory,” they said. That’s it. That’s all the
instruction we got. So my newly formed
team of six all piled in a car and decided to head to Atlanta. Setting out, we had no idea what kind of memory we were going to make…
Andrew, who apparently has no problem throwing caution to
the wind, suggested the idea of going to get a tattoo. Well, if he wanted a memory, that would
certainly be one that would last a lifetime. But we all said, sure why not? So
we found a random exit in the middle of Atlanta
and found a random tattoo parlor. But
looking back, I think our path and choices were by no means random.
We ended up being the only people in the place, so we spent
the next few hours hanging out with the tattoo artists and a sweet lady named
Cookie. We were able to share who we
were and what we were getting ready to do. Our new friends shared some of their lives and stories with us. We didn’t judge them, and they didn’t judge
us. We were just a bunch of completely
different people hanging out, getting to know each other. It’s amazing the friendships that can be
built and the walls that come down while hanging out at a tattoo parlor.
We were waiting for all the tattoos to be finished (another
girl, Hope, decided to get one too-and in case you’re wondering, no I did not
get a tattoo. One of our new tattoo
artist friends says that I have commitment issues because I’m not ready to
permanently ink something onto my body. I’m ok with that.), and it was taking a little longer than we planned,
so rather than getting to go to a nice restaurant for dinner (which we were all
looking forward to after the last week of the World Race diet), we took the
suggestion of Cookie to go get some good southern bbq at Fat Matt’s next
door. A few people went out and got the
food and brought it back so we could enjoy our first meal together as a team
sitting at a table with all our new friends in the middle of the tattoo parlor.
So not my typical day-driving around a huge city, stopping
at a random tattoo parlor, eating good southern cooking. But what a blessing-to make new
friendships-with my team and our friends at the tattoo parlor. To go out of my comfort zone. To be with a group of people who have said
that 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 describes who we want to be:
“Though I am free and
belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as
possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the
law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so
as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one
not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s
law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win
the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means
I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share
in its blessings.”
That’s why we are Team Arise. We want to arise to the calling that is on
our lives over the next year-to go the places that other people don’t want to
go to, to reach out to the people that are usually ignored or judged, to find
hope and redemption in the surprising, unexpected places.
That’s also why “unofficially,” we are Team Fat Matt’s &
Tats!:)
