This morning, our 3 grand daughters were watching cartoons, waiting to eat breakfast and I was trying to figure out where I would have breakfast and do some reading. I decided to eat on the patio where it was quiet instead of going to a resultant, which would be my normal desire.
As I’m listening to a number of podcast and reading the Word, I started to notice the robins flying and eating in my back yard. Now I’m not a bird watcher like some of my friends, and, in fact, I almost consider birdwatching a waste of time – Sorry to my friend George 
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Here is what I discovered while I’m multitasking – Our neighbors put a bird feeder on our property line as they cut down all their trees in their yard, and the birds are eating at their house and playing in our forested area. Simple you say? Well for me it was revelatory and impactful.
You see, I’m scheduled to get a tattoo in August!
I can just hear some of you saying or maybe screaming! Do pastors get tattoos when their 65 years old ?
The short version of a long story is, I had a dream one night about getting a tattoo with and anchor and it was connected to Hebrews 6:19.
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.”
I did a lot of soul-searching about this and really felt it was a challenge for my soul and the means of sharing my faith in the future. We all need reminders of good things God is teaching us throughout the years, and that fact of Christ being the “Anchor of My Soul” is a healthy reminder of my position in Christ. It’s more than a good feeling or a passing experience, but a life long passion.
Part of the reason for this tattoo decision is over the Lord calling Sue and I to Charlotte, NC. The scripture God gave me to make this move has always been anchored in Gen 12. Abraham’s calling to leave the secure and familiar place of family and friends, to go to a land that was unfamiliar and uncertain.
“Now the LORD said to Abram…Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you;
[2] And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you, and make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
[3] And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
[4] So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
For me, God has been dealing with my security and confidence. What am I secure in? My job, my community, my love of calling, or is my ultimate security in my relationship with my Heavenly Father?
Sometimes this gets lost in the complexity of living. It’s so easy to put your identity and security in the Lord one day and then next transfer it to people or things.
So the next time you see me, I will have a new tattoo with an anchor. 
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Funny, I remember struggling with other believers getting tattoos after becoming Christians until I met a young pastor who had tattoos up and down his arms while at a pastors conference in Hawaii. I asked him why he would do such a permanent and radical thing and he said he was reaching a community of lost young people who had tons of tattoos. He if he was ever going to reach them for Christ he had to identify with them. He had never had tattoos in his life, but felt the people he was trying to reach were worth such a radical investment.
Can I challenge all of you to consider what you’re willing to do to put your whole confidence in your Heavenly Father and not other things? God is waiting for bold confidence in His character and love to change the world, but first He has to change us to be fully anchored in his loving kindness.
Trust His promises and you will experience the life you have always wanted.
Pastor Dale
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