Re-Branded

Friends,

We are back from a month in Vegas.

Let’s just say the Hammett’s WENT HARD in Las Vegas, Nevada.  We left no stone unturned on the list of things suggested to do while in Vegas.  We searched the internet, far and wide, and compiled a list that we were committed to tackling.  We would leave nothing on that list undone.

And that is what we did.

Here’s a sampling:

1. Ate our way through the entire city and ate food from every “category” of food that there is… Chinese, Italian, American, French… and so on.  All are precious in His sight so we showed no bias.
2. We went to 3 Cirque Shows. THREE.  As if 1 is not life-altering enough.  We felt like 3 would be a better pace.
3. Ziplined over “Old Vegas” like a bunch of fools.  As they strapped us in and lowered the platform and we hung in mid-air like superman it hit me…”I may die this way”.  Worth it.
4. Went to the Hoover Dammmmmmmmm it was cool.  🙂  Survived a sand storm while there.  Barely.  (this one wasn’t a desired list item but it pushed it’s way onto the list. We had no choice)
5. Rode a roller-coaster in a casino. (Was sore for 4 days because mid-thirties)
6. Paid an un-Godly amount of money to take my littles to a pool that was half-pool half-sand-bottom-beach.  We were such lush’s at this pool.  Poolside food and drink…put it on my tab.  Brent was delighted when said tab came across our bank account.  🙂
7. Half of our fam went to the Grand Canyon.  Biggest hole in the ground in the US with no guardrails…me and Esther stayed home b/c you know… Esther.  Enough said.
8. Played penny slots because Vegas and I never lost a cent… Brent not so much.  I didn’t make any but I didn’t lose any so that makes me a winner.
9. Ate a $15.00 slice of cake with a glass of milk while sitting in a chair made to look like a bunny.
10. Got Tatted in Sin City.  Rebels I know.

Photo proof of #9 and also a
good summary of how I felt about Vegas.

I’ll stop there.  Guys, we made Vegas our full time J.O.B.

But we weren’t there just to check off that list.

Our family rolled into Vegas to do a really BIG thing with really BIG implications.

We got the honor of launching Purchased: Vegas, a ministry modeled after our work here in Shreveport, in the epicenter of it all, the city that is pace-setter of the sex industry.  We spent time on the ground with the Hope Church Vegas team scheming and planning and laying the groundwork for a restorative, Jesus-centered response to the sex-industry and Human Trafficking in Vegas.

Talk about a bucket list item?!  The honor of a lifetime.

One afternoon both my bucket-list-o-fun and God’s purposes for us to be in Vegas converged in a moment so sacred I will remember it forever.

And my favorite thing?  It happened in a tattoo shop.  Speaks directly to my little rebel soul when God shows up somewhere dirty and does something so Holy it could only be Him.

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We were sitting in the tattoo lobby waiting our turn.  We were there to be tattooed by Eric, that’s all we knew.  Talk about a risk to walk sight unseen into a shop and meet a person for the first time who 10 minutes later will put something on your body that you will NEVER be able to get rid of.  No biggie.

As we waited I was intrigued by Eric.  I watched him move around the shop preparing for our tattoos, drawing our designs, cleaning his station and doing his quirky rituals that seemed like an old routine for him.  He was also interacting with the other tattooists (that’s probably not what they’re called but I’m not cool enough to know the proper term).  There was something different about him.  He had a softness, a compassion to him.  But he also was able to hold his own in that tattoo shop.  He wasn’t awkward.  He didn’t stick out like a sore thumb… but there was something in him that I could recognize.  Something that felt familiar.  I knew He knew Jesus.

It was our turn and he called us back.

I started my regular tattoo ritual of getting overly chatty and requesting a bottle of water and “is it hot in here?” “sorry I talk a lot when I’m nervous….” “This is gonna hurt right??”

I mean…just all the space-fillers when I’m nervy.

He was kind to me.  Not annoyed.  Listened to all my requests and giggled to himself when Brent said, “I’m sorry, she’s nervous.”

No I’m not gah Dad.  Just kidding yes I was.

“So, what’s your tattoo about?  It’s unique so I imagine there’s a story to it?”

I explained that we had adopted our second daughter from China with an un-repaired bi-lateral cleft lip and palate.  I told him that I had always wanted a tattoo that represented her.  We call her QueenE so a crown was fitting, but I wanted it to be cracked and stitched up.

Royally Repaired.  That’s my QueenE.

He listened intently, even set aside his tools and leaned in, giving me his full attention.  He asked good questions and was moved by the story of both of my girls.

“Me and my wife want to adopt.”

He opened the door so I kicked it down…

“Are you a Christian?”

He looked at me for a second and giggled again, “Yes…are you?”

We chatted about our faith for a bit and then he asked me, “So what are y’all doing out here in Vegas?”

I explained Purchased to him and walked him through what the ministry does and how it helps in the world of Human Trafficking. (You should learn about it too…www.thehubministry.com…shameless plug)

He shifted a bit as I talked and I could tell I had struck something that he cared about.

“You know…before I learned about human trafficking and what all the girls went through and how their pimps treated them…” he hesitated, ” I unknowingly branded 3 women for their pimp.  I didn’t know exactly what was going on.  I remember feeling like there was something wrong with it but I didn’t know what it was so I just did my job.  Then I learned about the branding process and…” he trailed off.

**Pimps will often tattoo a symbol or name on their women as a sort of marking or name-tag that tells other pimps she is taken.**

I could feel the weight of his regret as he talked.

“Well,  we’re actually looking for someone to be our go-to for tattoo coverups.  When women come into the program for Purchased we’d like to offer a tattoo cover-up session so that we can physically show them that they no longer belong to their pimp anymore….Would you like to be our guy?”

“What?  Are you serious??”

I explained to him how special it would be to me if it was him.

“Of course.  Man…yeah…that would be rad…”  I could tell he was searching for the words to communicate the meaning behind this moment.

We exchanged numbers and as we were leaving I said… “Would it be weird if I asked you for a hug?”

Friends…the answer is always YES if you are ASKING SOMEONE TO HUG THEM it is weird… You asking them is weird therefore the hug is weird…especially in a gnarly tattoo shop.

“I’ve heard I’m a great hugger…” he said and he gave me a huge bear hug.

“This was not an accident,” I said teary-eyed as we left.  He agreed.

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It is SO.LIKE.GOD. to take our mess ups, the accidental ways we fall short or the paths we go down unknowingly and use them for His redemptive work.

When we present our rags to him…because let’s face it that’s all we’ve got…he uses those rags to clean up the world.

Our mess flipped upside down and used for His purposes.

He doesn’t just use the good parts of us: our accomplishments and accolades.

His delight is to use the parts of us that smell like a dirty tattoo shop, the things we did before we knew better that we’d never do again now that we know; the things we hide in the background of our lives and the regrets we maintain.

He is EAGER to take them from us and use them to cover someone else’s brokenness.

What we feel we’ve done that can’t be undone is suddenly rebranded in God’s economy.

Rebranded people sent into the world to fix it with an arsenal of rebranded brokenness to serve as our tools.

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Want some good ole scripture to back this up?

Isaiah 64:6
Revelation 21:5
Ecclesiastes 3:11