Paul's Back Piece

So Paul has finally finished his back tattoo.  He has really waited a long time to get this tattoo.  He had an idea and we just needed to find an awesome tattoo artist who could make Paul's idea come to life.  Thanks to Paul's friend, Paul Godrefy, we found that artist.  Paul Godfrey introduced us to Arjay Gomez of Black Shamrock Tattoo Parlor here in Bakersfield.  Arjay has done all of Paul G.'s tattoos and they look great.  Some of them are a few years old and the ink still looks new. 

Paul has been flirting with ideas having to do with our faith.  He's always wanted something really big showing our belief in God.  He is a central part to our lives.  Paul has had some ideas with crosses, stakes, angels...I'm sure he'll still get something with a cross on it but for his first big piece he decided with the Archangel Michael (Saint Michael) killing Satan in snake form.

He wanted it on his back so it could be a pretty good size.  He printed out some pics that had some of his ideas on it and gave them to Arjay.  An hour later Arjay had pieced together the things Paul wanted and drew out an awesome picture.  Paul liked it so much he decided to have Arjay fill up his whole back with it.  Orginally, Paul was only gonna do about 2/3 of his back. 

Here's some info on Saint Michael the Archangel thanks to wikipedia:

•  In Hebrew, Michael means "who is like God" which is traditionally interpreted as a rhetorical question: "Who is God?" (which expects an answer in the negative) to imply that no one is like God. In this way, Michael is reinterpreted as a symbol of humility before God.
• In the New Testament Michael leads God's armies against Satan's forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan.  The Book of Revelation (12:7-9) describes a war in heaven in which Michael, being stronger, defeats Satan:
• "...there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven."
  After the conflict, Satan is thrown to earth along with the fallen angels, where he ("that ancient serpent called the devil") still tries to "leads the whole world astray".
• Christian sanctuaries to Michael appeared in the 4th century, when he was first seen as a healing angel, and then over time as a protector and the leader of the army of God against the forces of evil.
• A painting of the Archangel slaying a serpent became a major art piece at the Michaelion after Constantine defeated Licinius near there in 324, eventually leading to the standard icongraphy of Archangel Michael as a warrior saint slaying a dragon.
• In the 4th century, Saint Basil the Great's homily (De Angelis) placed Saint Michael over all the angels. He was called "Archangel" because he is the prince of the other angels.
• In the Roman Catholic teachings Saint Michael has four main roles. His first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of heaven's forces in their triumph over the powers of hell. He is viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the spiritual warrior, with the conflict against evil at times viewed as the battle within.
  The second and third roles of Michael in Catholic teachings deal with death. In his second role, Michael is the angel of death, carrying the souls of all the deceased to heaven. In this role, at the hour of death, Michael descends and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing, thus consternating the devil and his minions. Catholic prayers often refer to this role of Michael. In his third role, he weighs souls in his perfectly balanced scales.
  In his fourth role, St Michael, the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament, is also the guardian of the Church; it was thus not unusual for the angel to be revered by the military orders of knights during the Middle Ages. This role also extends to his being the patron saint of a number of cities and countries.
• In the English epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton, Michael commands the army of angels loyal to God against the rebel forces of Satan. Armed with a sword from God's armory, he bests Satan in personal combat, wounding his side.