A Man of Fortitude

In the summer of 2012 I made a somewhat spontaneous decision to get a tattoo. I do not recommend doing that but it is what I did.

I was in a season of life where I was trying to make sense of the faith. I was tossed to and fro by the waves of the world, double minded most of the time. I was about as stable as sand and had the backbone of an eclair. It seemed like the best time to get a tattoo. (Again, just don’t). So I went to get a tattoo. For whatever reason I decided on a Celtic font, in latin, on the exterior of my right arm.

What a combination.

Why latin? I don’t know.

Why a Celtic font? It looked cool.

“Verum Fortitudo” is what my tattoo says with a little inscription from Exodus 15:2. “The Lord is my strength and my song.” Verum means “truth and reality”, slightly different than the word veritas, and fortitudo means fortitude. When read together it means “true strength”. I have always been self-reliant and strong in body. Both have felt noble at times and both have felt futile at ti…