Safety in a Helmet

Helmets - depending on their design, they can look really cool

OR really NOT cool.

I remember when this photo was taken. I was visiting my sister Erin and her husband Pete in California. They like to GO, and so do I. So when they offered to take me horseback riding on the beach I was picturing something a bit more exotic than what you see at the right. I remember that as we were waiting in line to sign a helmet waiver Pete said in his most authoritative military voice that we were all going to wear helmets. Exqueeze me? Helmets? I tend to take the path of least resistance, and when talking with a Madson, you don't win, you acquiesce. So as I went to check out the helmet selection I realized that this was not going to be the kind of ride I had been expecting.

The owners of the establishment selected for each of us a horse based on our size and temperament in relation to the size and temperament of each beast, and if you look closely, you might notice that my horse, the famed mustang of old (and the only mustang they had), looks nothing like the wild and free horse of the Old West. A more depressed equine specimen I can scarcely imagine. He looks, in a word, "demoralized". He could not be less impressed with me, the beach, the scenery (which much of the time was the east end of the westbound horse in front of him), or the trail on which we were walking. For me, it was supposed to be fabulous. For him, I was just a bag of oats and a cold drink - maybe a sugar cube if he didn't misbehave.

I remember sitting on Prickly Pete (or whatever his name was) and waiting for the trail ride to start when a woman (also in a helmet) rode up next to me (mostly by accident or the fact that her horse took her where he wanted to go - just like mine). She looked at me, and said, "It's our anniversary. When my husband said he was taking me horseback riding on the beach, I had pictured galloping through the surf with the wind in my hair. Now I'm wearing this stupid helmet." I had found a kindred spirit. As we traded jokes about our safety-concious men (her husband and my brother-in-law), our spirits lightened considerably; although we could not say the same for Prickly Pete and Wild Bill (or whatever her horse's name was).

Fast forward a few years, and we land in a pediatrician's office with my first son ever - who was 9 when I married Mark and 10 the first time I took him to the pediatrician. We were sitting there as the doctor was rattling off her list of questions (most of which were none of her business anyway), and I kept my fingers crossed that he was giving the answers she wanted to hear. She got to, "Do you wear a helmet/kneepads and other safety gear when riding bikes or skateboards?" Austin didn't skip a beat as he replied, "No way! Dad says helmets are for sissies." As both of our mouths caught flies for a few seconds, she glanced sidelong at me with an "Mmm... hmm..." and a "Does he now?" Well, the cat was out of the bag. We had quite a little laugh about that when I told Mark what Austin had blurted out that day. We laughed about it for weeks as I liked to say to Mark, "Well, someday when you're eating your meals out of a straw at 'the home', we'll see if you can still say (garbled and slurred), 'hfelmeth are fer thithies.'"

I look back on these incidences and laugh, because it's amazing how much your perspective on your needs for safety and security can change over just a relatively short period of time. We have an ATV now, and I feel like we should always wear a helmet, even when we aren't going far or fast. After all, helmets protect the most important part of your body. Without your head intact, nothing else would work right (or maybe work at all). Your head tells the rest of your body what to do and where to go.

Ephesians 6:16-18 speaks of the Armor of God and that the Helmet of Salvation is an integral part of our armor and that salvation is the source of our security. It keeps our head intact. Our head, after all, is the control center of our body. If it is secured, the rest of our actions (what we do and where we go) will fall into better and safer places. Our security, in other words, depends on our view of and attitude toward our Maker and His offer of eternal security. (1 Thessalonians 5:7-9)

The same son who told the doctor almost 4 years ago that, "Dad says that helmets are for sissies," was watching me search for helmet pictures for this blog - not knowing what I was doing. He said to me, "Don't you think that Roman helmet is cool?!" Isaiah 59:17 says of God Himself, "He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak." I don't know about you, but that gives me goosebumps. Doesn't sound like a sissy to me. So I guess not ALL helmets are for sissies. :) It just depends on the reputation of the one wearing it. I think I'm in pretty good company. Sign me up for a helmet.