Protected by a helmet
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ~ Ephesians 6:17
While scrolling through my Strava feed this past Saturday afternoon, I noticed that my weekly cycling mileage was in easy reach of the 100 miles mark. I had two days to close the gap. I love a good challenge, so I changed into my bicycling kit and headed out on a ride. I chose to wear a newer helmet that has MIPS technology, which, arguably, provides better protection if there's a crash.
My usual route is to head towards the coast into a wilderness park just a mile and a half away and ride gravel trails. However, I took a hardscape route along a creek on Saturday because it has a steady uphill climb that goes for miles, into the foothills. My thinking was to push on the outbound, and then have a faster and less challenging ride home. It was genius thinking until something went terribly wrong.
At a transition along the bike path, I tried to merge onto a section of trail that I had done a number of times before, but this time I chose the wrong angle. The front tire did not go over the concrete lip as expected, and I crashed. It was a hard crash onto concrete. The points of contact were my right knee, right hip, right elbow, right shoulder and the right side of my head. As my head hit the concrete, I remember thinking that the helmet had protected my head from the expected hard contact with concrete.
I'll spare the details (going to the ER, follow up medical appointments, etc.), except that I was able to ride my bicycle home. I also have an update on Franco, my bicycle. Franco is in the shop to have the rear derailleur aligned or replaced. I expect to pick him up this afternoon.
The point of this post is that my bicycle helmet did what it was supposed to do. I've thought all week how terribly wrong things could have gone had my bicycle helmet failed to provide the protection I needed.
I've also thought about Ephesians 6:17, which says "Take the helmet of salvation...." My bicycle helmet is designed to take the impact of one crash, and then it has to be replaced. The "helmet of salvation," in contrast, is eternal. Once we take on Christ as Savior, our protection is made secure, for all time, and for all eternity.
I am thankful for the one-time protection my MIPs technology bicycle helmet provided last Saturday night. I am also comforted in knowing that Jesus is my Lord, he is my Savior, and my eternal security, regardless of the crashes I encounter along the way.
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