Here’s the story behind my tattoo…
When I turned 40 years old several years ago, there were a couple ‘firsts’ in my life. One was my first blog entry for my church, you can read that here.
And another first was I got a tattoo! I know people’s opinions differ on getting tattoos, but this was one I had thought of for a long time. And I wanted it to tell a story that pointed people to Jesus!
My tattoo has two parts… the bottom is a crest that represents where my ancestors came from on the island of Karmoy, Norway. This has been traced back to the 15th-16th centuries. And the amazing thing was, when my great-grandfather arrived in what later became SD, the first thing they did was help start a church. And his son, my great-grandfather, later helped start another church that I grew up in!
There was already a faith in Jesus in my ancestors when they came over from Norway!
But that wasn’t always the case…
You go back far enough, and at some point, someone was ‘the first’. Going back further, my ancestors were the pagan, barbarian, violent Vikings of the North. They wanted nothing to do with Jesus, or God, or the Bible.
That is the second part of my tattoo… above the crest where my ancestors who were followers of Jesus, is my last name ‘Fagerland’ in old Vikings rune language. This dates back to the 8th-9th centuries.
This is a powerful image for me… because somewhere between when my ancestors were far from Jesus, and then when my ancestors were starting churches, someone brought the Gospel to my people!
They were not only convinced, but they were also convicted, that those people needed Jesus too! And I can only imagine it came at a great cost for those who first began that Gospel work. And I am forever and eternally grateful for this!
So yes, I have a tattoo… and it tells the story of how the Gospel was brought to my people. And now that we are missionaries to Panama, I am convinced, and I am convicted, that those people need Jesus too!
And as a new friend recently shared with me, Latin America is not only a ‘mission field' that is open to the Gospel, they are also a ‘mission force’ ready to be sent into this world for the Kingdom of Jesus!
They can go places that desperately need to hear about the hope of eternal life found only in Jesus Christ!
Would you help us do this?
