60-year-old outdoorsman, Christian, humanitarian, family man

“I ink, therefore, I am.” Perhaps stretching Descartes a bit before "Die Horse" (famous project named at HP in the '80s), the statement still has some ringing truth to it.

The artwork on my right arm captures two main themes in my life: my love for the out of doors, plus my love for humanity. The top portion is my favorite mountain range, which can be seen from my home, that being Long’s Peak. Summiting it six times with several rivers flowing down the foothills is the metaphor of my life as a constantly changing river, yet flowing constantly with much energy and with the ability to adapt to any situation necessary to keep moving. The two main confluences of the river are my children and their lives. Clearly, this is a work in progress and will continue. And centerpiece is a Celtic cross, depicting our love of Ireland and our rich faith in Jesus.


Below is an armband with the Swahili word Mzee emblazed across my small bicep. I was given this
name from the Ugandan people during one of our many trips to work distributing malaria nets working as volunteers for our NGO, Think Humanity, Inc. Again, centering this is a spaded cross pointing, once again, to my faith.

On my left hand are two Greek letters, Alpha and Omega, which stand for the Beginning and The End, the Genesis of my faith. Below that is the Hebrew word for Jaweh, which means God will provide. These gentle reminders are with me constantly and force me to exercise my faith by living it, testing it and seeing it in action with my own hands.


Both of these two ink-works are personal to me and have deep and significant meaning to my life and others that are aware of significant events within my personal life. The other benefits from having such ink is that it provides to others a potential opportunity to share one’s faith, their experiences and how they managed through some of the tougher moments in life.

This is not to say that all tattoos have significance, but at least in my life, being 60 years old and retired, my inking has only just begun! My rule of thumb is that when pondering a tattoo, give that idea one year’s worth of consideration, then if you still want it, you’ll have made the right decision!