Helmets in season and out of season

On the record near hottest day of the year, we went shopping for snowboard helmets. I always do my winter shopping in summer. I usually save 50-75%. Presuming this isn't the end of the world, much as recent events would suggest it might be, Asherel needs a snow board helmet. She had been wearing her bicycle helmet the past two ski seasons, but sport helmets are specialized for a reason. The number one reason is, of course, that the helmet companies want to make money. The second reason is that a bike helmet covers only the top of the head, but a snowboard helmet circumnavigates the skull.  Lining the helmets of various sports up against each other, it is easy to determine which sport is most likely to shatter one's skull into tiny fragments.

We found a helmet that was 50% off because it was a 2010 model. It fit Asherel, was a pretty  1970's countertop green, and the price was right.
"You should get a helmet too," said Asherel.
"Why? My bike helmet is fine.... Wait.....Do I embarrass you skiing in my bike helmet?"
"Oh no," she said quickly, "Why would a 50 year old woman skiing in a child's pink with purple flower bike helmet embarrass me?"
I bought a snowboard helmet at the sharply reduced rate as well.

Truth be told, I hate wearing helmets. They never quite fit my small head correctly (which is why I wear a pink child's bike helmet) and they rub my hair and pull on it. However, I do realize that helmets are a safeguard, and sensible, and it is foolish to take up a high speed, crazy sport like skiing or snowboarding without wearing a helmet.

And, helmets are biblical. God warns us in both the new and the old Testaments to "put on the helmet of salvation."  Helmets protect the head, the part of the body that thinks, sees, hears, smells, and tastes. If we want our senses and our thoughts to be safe, we put on a helmet of salvation. Evil lurks as real to the believer (or anyone...) as the likelihood of a fall lurks in the day of a snowboarder. Only a fool refuses to wear a helmet, or pretends he will never fall.

Putting on the snowboard helmet was easy, once I found the right size- xxs.  How does one put on a "helmet of salvation", however?  Fortunately, we don't even have to do that ourselves. If we believe in Jesus, He does it for us. And fortunately, we don't even need to wait for a sale on salvation, out of season. It is always free!

Ephesians 6:16-18

¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

Isaiah 59:17

He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head

1 Thessalonians 5: 8-10

⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 

Confined

The "back forty" needs a bit of repair. I went walking the fence line yesterday morning and found that a dog even less wily than Emporer Escapist Lucky could manage to get out of our fence. Now it is true that all the damaged sections just lead to someone else's fenced in back yard, but depending which section Lucky decided to scale, the consequences could range from none to severe. There are four damaged areas, each leading to a different yard with different likely results.

Escape number one would be the safest choice and I am pretty sure that is the route Lucky usually chooses. It leads into Comer and Evelyn's back yard, and since they are currently in a Nursing Home, and no one has yet bought the house, it is empty. Their gate is a little tottery so Lucky can squeeze through that fairly easily to freedom. That section of decrepit fence would require some climbing and then scraping through some open wire, but it could be done, and I could tell, had been done.


Escape # 2 was at a low corner that led into Piper's yard. Piper is about 6 inches tall and loves Lucky. Those neighbors also love Lucky and have been very sweet about the few times they have found Lucky in their yard. Their fence is otherwise difficult to scale however, so Lucky chooses it less often as he only finds himself in another fenced in yard, and his entire nervous system seems wired to escape enclosures.

Escapte #3 was one I had not known about, and exceedingly disturbing. The picket fence was actually toppling and the wire was squished down . Any dog with half a terrier gene could figure out how to squeeze through that hole. This route was most unfortunate, as being very simple to navigate and leading into the jaws of the pitbull neighbor. This pitbull does not like other dogs, and growls when he sees us near the fence. However, that section is particularly tempting to a dog like Lucky because a.) it is an easy escape from our yard, and b.) the neighbor's fence has a large hole in it not big enough for the pitbull to get out of (supposedly) but big enough for wiry Lucky to slip through to complete freedom. All he'd have to do is get past the pitbull..... I tacked that section up immediately with all the old wire screening I could find and knew that any money left from this year of great expense had to go into a new fence. We just had no choice.

Escape #4 was an unknown risk. It led to the neighbor's house where a new dog seems to visit every few weeks. The last one was a rottweiler, but I don't think he is there any more. This was the surprise box with a big question mark on it for Lucky. It was a route he must have used at least once, as the wire was squashed down with dog shaped squashes, but I don't think it was a route he used regularly. Lucky has an electric collar as well as a physical fence. The collar supposedly shocks him as he gets near the fence line, but freedom is such a lure to him that he withstands the small moment of discomfort for the greater glory of disobeying us.

So we called fence businesses for our requisite three estimates. The first man arrived quickly. He surveyed the fence, we outlined the issues with our dog and he came up with a fencing solution that should be difficult for even Lucky to escape through. As he left, he talked about our need to discuss with neighbors whether we should do a jointly erected (and hopefully split cost ) or should put up our own fence right beside their's.
"And people get really funny about these things. Really greedy. Must be republicans," he laughed.

Neither Arvo, my to-the-right-of-Atila-the-Hun husband, nor I smiled.
The fence man kept laughing, then slowly rolled to a grin, and then choked to a concerned look on his face in the ensuing silence.
"You ain't one of those, are you?" he asked.
I smiled sweetly, "Well yes, as a matter of fact, we are."
I suspect we will need to contact Fence Company Number two.

I was thinking about those escape routes and the results each choice would bring, and realized what a perfect picture they painted of the consequences of all our choices to sin and to stray in life.
#1 is a safe choice, no real thrill, no real danger, no horrible consequences in the short run. Of course, once out of the safety of our own "fence", any number of dangers could await us.
#2 is a mercy laden choice, into the confines of friends and loving reception by those who care for us and will restore us to our right place with little recrimination. If we must stray, it is best to stray towards those who will counsel and protect and ultimately restore.
#3 is a risky choice into obvious dangers that could maim or even destroy us. The route is easy and appealing in that respect, but the consequences are likely dire. This choice is suicidal, and one that few make except in desperation.
#4 is an unknown. The consequences could go either way depending on the day.We choose that route when we feel lucky.

Of course, the choice I wish we would make each time isn't listed. It is implicit however. Stay in your own fenced yard! Remain in the confines, rules, laws of the Master who put the fence there for your protection because He loves you and longs for you to thrive.

Since Lucky is unlikely to remain happy long with this best choice, we greedy Republicans will need to buy a new fence.

Psalm 88: 8-9
I am confined and cannot escape;
 ⁹ my eyes are dim with grief.

2 Corinthians 10:13 (New International Version)

¹³ We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.

Psalm 139:4-6 (New International Version)

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.

Survived

As the paddle floated away on the rapids, I was glad I had packed an emergency paddle in our survival kit. Of course, when we were all waiting at the end of a long long riff of rapids, and still no sight of Arvo, carrying all the emergency supplies, I did wonder if I should have parceled out the food and blankets in case we had to wait overnight. And as our "one hour" "float" edged onto three hours, Matt asked, "Does any of this look familiar?"
"It all looks familiar. We have been intimately acquainted for three hours."
Of course what he meant was the take out point- where I had driven to park the getaway car when we finished.
"There is no way we can miss the take out point," I assured him. (Unless of course we have been in sun and heat for three hours past dinner time and our brains have melted and fused onto the back of our skull, which now that you mention it....)

But all those could-be disasters ended well. We caught the escaped paddle, Arvo reappeared having had to walk a good portion of the rapids and riffs as the water was too low there for his heavier weighted kayak, and the take out point burst into view shortly after Matt's question to me.

The terrifying dam where we had been warned kayakers are sucked under whole, only to reemerge, if lucky, on the Yangtze River, turned out to be just another fun rapid. In fact, the trip, while a tad longer than we had hoped for with water that was a tad shallow in spots so we had to scoot the kayaks forward by shimmying our bottoms, was sheer delight for me.

When we launched the kayaks, the first section was very fast with a lot of small rapids. I had never done rapids before, so I was scared, but we all negotiated them and I think only a few blood vessels burst in my brain. The water was not more than 6 inches deep there, so even capsizing would not have caused any injury more severe than leech attack. (Actually, I don't think leeches like rapids and I had salt in the emergency kit to shrivel them in case of attack). The water was calm for a while for us to get our sea legs, and then every few minutes, there were more rapids. By the midpoint of the trip, I was beginning to be able to discern the shape of the water flow that most easily would carry me unscathed and unbottomed-out over the rocks. I enjoyed it so much that I think I would like to try Class 2 rapids now.

We followed a great blue heron for much of the 6 mile trip. Geese were everywhere, and not happy that we were invading their river. We were the only boats on the river that we saw. I think the river is a bit too shallow this late in the summer and everyone else knows that. However, we had it all to ourselves, with the geese. The geese had goslings that bobbed like corks over the rapids trying to outpace us.

Wildlife was everywhere. At one point, my heart stopped when Arvo pointed to the nearby shore and screeched, "Is that a bear!?" Since I know bears swim, I was ready to reach into my emergency survival kit for the air horn and the bear repellent, when Matt said,
"That's a cow, Dad."
It is easy to confuse the two until you go to milk them, of course.

Sheer limestone cliffs (or granite...or maybe gneiss- I just don't know my rocks very well) towered over the right shore, and thick forests were on either side of us.
"I feel like we are the first people ever to be here!" I exclaimed.
Karissa glanced at the steel fancy observation deck with benches on the shore.
"OK, the second people. The ones who built that were probably here first," I conceded.

But most of the trip, it was utterly quiet, save for the sounds of the next set of rapids, and peaceful greens and blues and leaves shimmering in the sun. As we pulled the boats on shore at our take out point, I flipped my inflatable kayak over to wipe it down. Two 6 inch slashes were in the bottom of the boat, cutting the protective outer rubber right to the inflatable air matt on the floor of the kayak. I was a quarter inch from having been deflated at some point on that float. Now I had emergency patches, pumps, and duct tape.... but it would have been MOST inconvenient. I breathed a prayer of thanks to the gracious Lord of the river and my life that had stopped the rock a quarter inch from slicing our adventure apart, not to mention my bottom.

Psalm 116:6,8-9
The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. [8] For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, [9] that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.