God is my Helmet

This past weekend I had the pleasure of speaking at a Middle School Ski retreat at Whitetail in Mercersburg, PA. It's funny, how at times you can speak to a group of students hoping to impart some wisdom to them that might help them come into a deeper (or even start a) relationship with God. However, in the end it's you who ends up learning something profound.

I've been snowboarding before, but I'd never worn a helmet (all the cool riders don't). Now, I am aware of my ability (or lack thereof) and I usually stick to the easy slopes; mostly greens and an ambitious blue from time to time. Well on this particular weekend, I decided that I was going to wear a helmet, because who knows what might happen (Like my friend Jason said, "I've spent a lot of money on the information in this head and I'd like to keep it"). Once getting over the fact that only one in ten people were wearing a helmet, wearing this helmet actually gave me confidence that I've never had before. I was always so cautious because I was afraid of hitting my head. With that fear out of the way, it actually made me a better snowboarder. On a snowboard, operating out of fear can actually make you fall. Snowboards are made to go fast and be maneuvered at faster speeds. If you aren't riding the edge, it's likely you are headed for a faceplant. I spent the better part of the first day on the blue slopes and then made my way over to the blacks where I spent all of the second day. I've never had so much fun. I joked with the students that my helmet made me invincible. Now let's face it, my helmet wasn't going to lead me to the winter X-Games and I wasn't going to attempt the long jump in the terrain park. In fact, I had some pretty bad wipeouts on just what I was doing. I can assure you that I got my money's worth out of that helmet. This one time, I was getting down the mountain pretty good when all of a sudden I caught a patch of ice. I lost control and my head slammed back against the ground. It still hurt and left my head ringing, but without that helmet, it would have probably been lights out. Not long after that, I made it to the bottom in one piece. As I was about to get on the lift to go back up and try it again, my board got stuck on a piece of wood. As I reached down to move my board, I got hit in the head with the chair lift. You get the idea. These are just a couple of reasons why I'm glad I wore a helmet. In the end, my helmet was never a restriction. In fact, it made my experience so much more fun than I could have ever had without it.

So what does this story have to do with God? This weekend, I gave 3 talks to the students about how God helps us through the mountains in our lives. From Psalm 121, I showed them that God has promised to be their strength and to watch over them; that if we trust in him, we need not fear any mountain that we might face. God is like that helmet that gave me so much confidence on the ski slopes. Romans 8:31 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Having God as our helmet can give us the strength to face life without fear of wipeouts. We will still wipe out and it will still hurt, but knowing that God is watching over us can liberate us from the bondage of fear. We were never made to live in fear. In fact, fear in life (just like in snowboarding) can actually make us fail. We were made to take risks and to enjoy life. But most of all we were made to enjoy a relationship with our Creator. Without God, we are like snowboarders who fly down the black slopes with reckless abandon with no helmet to protect them if they fall. Or even worse we are like the poor fearful snowboarders who, no matter their experience, spend their entire lives on the green slopes too afraid to step up and tackle the exhilarating rush of the more difficult slopes. In the end both of these people eventually fall.

Like my helmet, God is not restrictive. The Bible is not a set of rules and “Thou shalt nots.” In fact the Bible is a guidebook that will show you how to enjoy life to the fullest with God as our helmet. God is not the enemy of fun; fear is the enemy of fun. So put on your Helmet and enjoy life.