THIS comical tattoo of Jesus ended up changing the life of a young man who had become a party animal while gigging in a rock 'n' roll band.
Ross McQueen was living his life by the motto 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' after joining mates in band Kownterphit when he finished school.
As part of his rock lifestyle, he decided to cover himself in tattoos – but when he went to get inked with a cartoonish Hollywood-style Jesus, his life changed forever.
Ross, now 28, told the Worcester News: “I was an 18-year-old lad getting over £1,000 a month – I was like 'this is great!' I was blowing it.”
“The whole tattoo thing added to that lifestyle that I was looking for. In a band, the whole saying 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' was something I really wanted to subscribe to.”
At 19, gigging across the Midlands, Ross started to question his party lifestyle when he heard about the death of a friend in a band that his group had supported.
“We were all living the same way as this guy and it could have been one of us," said Ross. "It really shocked us.”
Then, in 2009, Ross went to get a tattoo and ended up choosing a ‘cartoon Hollywood-style’ for his inner forearm as a joke – but felt guilty as he walked out of the shop with his new ink.
“I remember it so well," he said. "I just stopped dead on the corner of the street. The plan was to turn left and just go home and crack on with my life as I always had done, but I just really felt this overwhelming sense of guilt and I regretted having the tattoo.”
Instead, he walked towards a church at the end of the street and found himself going inside.
"I was really surprised to find that there was a bloke in there,” he said. That man was Pastor Ben Brown and Ross ended up spending the next few hours in a coffee shop chatting with him.
They then went back to the church and Ben asked Ross if he could pray for him and also gave him a verse from the bible.
Ironically, as he had not seen Ross' tattoo because his sleeves were rolled down, Ben told him: "From now on you will bear the mark of Jesus."
From there, Ross began exploring faith and became a Christian and now, nine years on, he is a ministry assistant at Lifehouse Elim church in Worcester.
He is also a graduate of theology from Regents Theological College in West Malvern, currently studying a master’s degree – and still playing music.
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