Last month, I wrote about ordering a new motorcycle helmet! I described it in vivid detail and told you all how excited about it I was. It CAME! This was a cause of both Joy and Sadness! Joy, because it finally arrived… I carefully unboxed it. It was just as beautiful (if a helmet can be beautiful) as the pictures led me to believe. Of course, I had to try it on, right there in the living room! No sense waiting till I was ready to go somewhere on the bike. So, I put it on… I was suddenly enveloped in what could easily be described as a cocoon! I had measured my head right above my eyebrows, just like the website said I should, and I ordered the size they suggested. Apparently, I should have taken into account the fact that I have a round head! It was downright claustrophobic! And that leads to the Sadness! There was no way I was going to be able to get used to wearing a helmet that fit so tight, so I had to box it back up and return it so I could get the next size up. Talk about a bummer!
My new helmet didn’t come right away. I had to wait for them to receive the helmet back, inspect it to make sure I hadn’t done anything to damage it, and then finally send me another one.
Last Monday, my replacement arrived!!! Again, when I unboxed it, I was happy about how it looked. Then I tried it on. I still felt like I had been enveloped! But I realized that a good helmet should “envelop” you! After all, you don’t want your head to be banging around in there, particularly if there’s an accident. So, I decided I would keep it! (Besides, they don’t make a XXXL in that helmet!)
I rode my motorcycle to work on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday. I’m getting more and more used to the way it fits. I’ve found that if you raise the visor slightly, you get a lot more air circulation. In time, wearing this helmet will feel normal. And when the weather cools off a little more, I’ll probably appreciate that the cold air won’t be getting into the helmet as much!
Sometimes, you do what you are supposed to do, but it doesn’t work out! I followed the directions and measured my head and believed what the sellers said. I ordered the size the company said I should, but when I received it, my helmet was too small! (Or my head is just too big!) This isn’t such a big deal when you’re talking about a helmet, but it makes a point… Even when you do what you are supposed to, things still can go very wrong. This “fact of life” can be SO annoying! You do your best… It’s not enough. You follow the directions… Things still go sideways. You work really hard… but you can’t seem to work hard enough. You make a plan… and instead of things happening the way you think it will, it goes in the complete opposite way! An accident happens… An illness strikes… Again, this can be extremely frustrating. But when we really think about it, as Christians, we don’t need to be frustrated! After all, we have God’s promise. Romans 8:28 (NASB95) And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
I don’t think that God was concerned with my helmet, but there are certainly LOTS of things in our lives that ARE important! As Christians, we are given God’s promise that if we Love Him, and we are trying to do what God wants us to do, that He will work things out for our good. Not for our fun, not necessarily what we wanted, but for our growth in Christ!
So, let’s look at our lives through that lens. When something happens that we aren’t expecting, or don’t appreciate, remember this; God has all of time, (past, present and future) in sight. He sees what has happened in the past, what is currently happening, and what will happen in the future! He loves you, and He KNOWS what is best!
Trusting God, right next to you!
John
