Got My Unashamed Tatt and My Cross on My Back

In the morning I set two alarms on my phone - both the same ringtone.  Brianna has commented a few times about how abrasive it is but for me it is necessary.  It's the beginning of a song from Lecrae's album Rehab called "New Shalom".  

"I wake up - before I throw a beater on - fall to my knees, thank the Lord for that new shalom"

Maybe I'm a mediocre Christian because I don't always fall to my knees, but that song is amazing to wake up to because of the way it reminds me to think on and about God.  I get a shower and I pray about my day.  I think about how I can do God's work that day at school and how I can honor and care for my very pregnant wife.  

I love how well it was put - "before I throw a beater on".  He didn't say t-shirt or polo.  He said beater - a part of his outfit that no one would ever see.  So he is saying that even before he puts on the basics that no one would even know about he takes time to thank God for the peace that He has blessed him with.

I love waking up that way.  I love listening to gospel hip-hop on my way to school.  I find myself being blown away day after day by some of the biblical truths interwoven into this music.  I reference what I hear all the time - to Christians and non-Christians.  I listen to it in my trailer during my planning period and before and after school.  

It makes me want to read scripture.  It makes my heart leap when I read something in scripture that I heard in a song and just never realized was biblical.  

And yet I still don't read my Bible consistently.  I do pray for my wife, but my attempts to be a good husband fall short in so many cases.  I often fail to share the gospel at key opportunities because I am scared or nervous about how a student or teacher will react.  I am so worried about whether or not I will be able to be a good father, and I have such a weak character when it comes to enduring difficult situations.

But this summer, after going to the Dominican and seeing God's beauty and majesty in a different part of the world, I was reminded of all that He has done in my life despite the epic failures I have been a part of and responsible for.  I don't have a hope without the grace of the Lord, and as I was listening to the music of the 116 Clique it became clearer than ever that God has a completely wonderful plan for my life - one that is meant to honor Him and all He has done.   

So I made a decision to get a tattoo.  I had at that point been considering getting one for a while, but the final push came from reading Romans 1:16.  I had read it before, but for some reason it struck me in a deeper way.  

 ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

I feel so much shame for so many of the things I have done in my life but the reality is that God in His infinite grace forgave all my misdoings - past, present and future.  And so when I think on who He is and what He has done despite who I am I find myself completely overcome by His love.  


I should be ashamed of the things I have done to dishonor God, but this verse reminds me that there is something I can be unashamed of - who God is and what He has done.  


So I got the 116 Clique's logo tattooed on my left bicep for a couple of reasons.  I got it because my body is a temple - and the temple is where the Jews went to praise God and be close to Him - to honor Him.  I believe my tattoo is a way that my "temple" is made more honoring to God and will be that until they throw me in a box and bury me.  I got it because of the verse it represents (Romans 1:16), and I got it because of the opportunities it will present for me to talk about the God who hung the moon and the stars up.  


I have already had the opportunity to tell people about what I believe and why I believe it.  I can't wait to continue doing that.  I mean really, what else am I doin' right now?