Meet Robert Bader. He is a 40 year old tattoo artist in Dubuque, Iowa. Robert had a client come into his shop. The man had just had his first grandchild. He was elated. He wanted a tattoo of the grandchild’s name. The obvious place would be next to a raciest, vulgar tattoo he had gotten years before.

The client was ashamed of the tattoo. He was excited about his new grandchild. Robert came up with a great idea. He said he could remove the old tattoo and replace it with the tattoo honoring his baby granddaughter.

Robert decided to wipe away hate, shame, raciest and gang related tattoos. He loves the process of burning them off with a laser. He does this – free! He’s opened another parlor called Retrospect Tattoo Removal. It is to help people remove those tattoos of which they are now ashamed. He said, “With me, it’s basically good versus evil. Everybody deserves a second chance.”

Everybody deserves a second chance. That’s the good news of Jesus Christ. He can take people who have made the biggest mess of their lives, and give them a second chance. He offers that to prostitutes, cheating tax collectors, lying politicians, vulgar soldiers – everybody, including you and me.

He does it – free! We call it grace. You can’t pay to have hatred, selfishness, greed, and sin removed from your life. Jesus does it for free. Justice is when we receive what we deserve. Mercy is when we don’t receive what we deserve. Grace is when we receive what we don’t deserve – a complete second chance.

I really don’t know why anyone would ever get one of those raciest vulgar tattoos. There are many people in Iowa who are feeling a lot better about themselves because their bodies don’t reveal those hateful, raciest vulgar tattoos. I join people all over the world who feel so much better about ourselves and life because God has removed hateful, vulgar, and sinful things from our lives.

I love to see people reach out and give a second chance to people who have made a mistake. North Carolina has a restaurant that hires female x-cons as cooks, servers and managers. The name of the restaurant is “Second Helping.” When it opened in Charlotte they had 7 former prisoners dishing out BBQ, fried chicken, shrimp and grits, etc.

The restaurant is the brain child of Melissa Mummert. She also has a nonprofit organization that offers support to women released from jail. When asked why she would open such a restaurant she said, “Employers just weren’t hiring people with criminal records – so we decided we would just create a business and create the jobs ourselves. We want to offer a second chance.”

When Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and plotted to kill him, his brother Judah intervened, but he fell short of rescuing Joseph. But Judah got a second chance when he discovered that his brother Benjamin’s life was in danger. Judah put his own life on the line. He got a second chance to allow God’s purpose to be worked out through his brother Joseph. Receiving that second chance and acting on it allowed a blessing to be passed on to his family – the Messiah, Jesus came from the linage of the tribe of Judah!!

Jesus came into the world to give second chances. Read John 3:16; Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; John 8:11; Romans 6:23; I John 1:9

Do you need to give or receive a second chance today?