Growing up, one of my favorite pastimes was riding my bike around the neighborhood, either solo or with friends. My parents had a rule: always wear a helmet when riding. My helmet was white and ugly with a red strap. I hated that rule for two main reasons:

• The helmet was annoying, not very comfortable, and a pain to carry around.
• More importantly, I was the only kid in the neighborhood wearing a helmet, and some of the older boys (who were automatically cooler than I was, even though they were jerks) made fun of me for wearing it. They dubbed me…wait for it… “The Crash Helmet Kid.”

Being an obedient child overall, I wore the stupid helmet and endured the jokes. I tried to avoid the older guys when I could and to ignore them when necessary. I can’t remember whether or not I understood my parents’ logic behind the helmet at the time, but I experienced enough bike crashes and skinned knees to know that bicycles could be somewhat dangerous.

Years later, as an adult, I witnessed a terrible bike accident on a highway, so bad that the bicyclist left in a CareFlite helicopter. I held pressure on his torn-open forearm until the paramedics arrived. One of his legs was pointing the wrong way. However, thanks to his helmet, he was not only alive but conscious enough to talk to us. Without it, I don’t know whether he would have survived.

Although I couldn’t fully understand at the time and certainly didn’t like it, my parents were 100 percent correct in making me wear a helmet even before it became socially acceptable. Obviously, it could have saved my life. It also taught me one of the most important lessons I could ever learn:

God didn’t put me here to win a popularity contest.

I still use that lesson today: as an employee when I have to stand up to my union or a coworker in order to do the right thing, as a father when I have to tell Brenden “no”, as a husband when I have to break the bad news that we need to tighten the belt, as a Christian when I have to stand up for truth in a world full of lies. I sometimes have to choose between pleasing people and pleasing God. Obviously, I don’t always do the right thing. I want to be liked, and sometimes I still let the “cool kids” influence me. But my time as The Crash Helmet Kid helped me start growing thicker skin, which helps me make the right choice more often.