Ink - Part Three

     If you read Ink - Part Two, then you know that Jeff is my cousin and a very important part of my life and his death was a key element to me realizing that there was no possible way I could survive this life without God, and due to the fact that I was still grieving two years later, I got my seond tattoo.

     Sometime in 2008 I "wandered" into True at Heart, a tattoo shop that also holds a Bible study in it one night a week after hours, with my scrapbook. I know - strange picture to imagine huh? You wouldn't expect the "scrapbook" type to be found in a tattoo parlor with scrapbook in hand to explain the full impact and significance.

 

     There's a lot of things going on with this one that you wouldn't know without me telling you - the most important, I believe, is the lessen that was taught through the loss of a great man. Through this, I began to wake up to the reality that I did and do need Christ and, after a couple years of trying to figure out and piece together all the events that directed me toward God I had to realize that this life is full of suffering and pain, but there is no amount of pain or tragedy hear that can even come close to the glory that God will reveal to us - which is Romans 8:18 - the verse I find the most hope in. ^"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

     The ribbon in the center of this tattoo represents the ribbons that we wore to Jeff's funeral along with his initials inside of it - J.M.O.

     The smoke - yes, I know that it looks like clouds, but that's not what it was intended to be. It is smoke - and this is because Jeff liked burn outs. His friends all got together and the cemetary and gave him a beautiful motorcycle farewell - burning their tires into the asphalt and making a whole bunch of smoke. I remember one of his friends talking with me afterwards and telling me how much Jeff would have loved that.
     There are two crosses - one to represent that he was saved before he was called home and is now with Christ, waiting for the rest of us and the second because I came to realize that I need God - this life can't be faced without God and Christ's atoning blood.
 [side note: please don't "rule" people out if they have tattoos. I mean really - everyone has a story and everyone deals with things differently - don't rule the tattooed out].