Which Hat Do You Love To Wear? Ch. 1

This study is the result of a request from a friend, who runs an online Christian Gay Outreach Ministry. His study determined that an overwhelming percentage of teens in transition are choosing suicide over "coming out". This study is for them. So far, it is working. I hope it continues to.

“Hats, And Who Wears Them!”
Chaper 1: A New Beginning

By: M. B. "Bud" Fields, Jr. (Chaplain Bud)

Copyright(c)2006 by Grand Organ Productions, LLC
All Rights Reserved

I love hats.

I love to wear hats.

I was going through my hat closet the other day (yes, my hats have a closet, too!) when I saw, just for the first time, the number of hats that I wear. Okay, perhaps a word of explanation is in order.

I collect hats. I have, ever since I was just a wee small lad. The coolest person I ever knew was my Papaw, and the only time I distinctly remember him not wearing a hat (apart from good manners, mind you) was on the day we buried him. I always thought that was sad. Did God not allow hats in heaven? Why couldn’t Papaw wear one of his many, very cool hats to meet King Jesus? If I had been older than 4, I would’ve gotten my way. I even mentioned it to my Nanny, but she wasn’t thinking about hats that day.

You could tell a lot of things about my Papaw by his hat. I knew what kind of work he would be doing, where he was going, and probably even who he was going to see that day, just because of the hat he wore out of the house. I was amazed that he would take so much time to go through all of the many hats he had, just to choose the right one. And, it never failed. He always chose the right one. (Or, at least he did to a 4 year old boy.)

I have collected hats my entire life. I love them. I especially love baseball caps with a message. When I grew up, we moved a lot (but then, military families did in those days). I would make sure to get at least one hat from every special event, occurrence, or presence in every town I lived in. The baseball team was proud to have me as a sponsor, and endorser. The football team, the local college—anything that would forever remind me of the place would wind up on my head, and in my collection.

In my hat closet the other day, I realized that I have worn a lot of hats in my life. Have you?

It got me to thinking about the hats I wear now. I spent several years as an over-the-road truck driver. We have a saying: “Never trust a man who does not wear a hat!” My Papaw was a truck driver, too. I wonder if….

It was eerily true, too. If a driver was talking to you, and didn’t have on a hat, you could just about always (but not ALWAYS) bet he was lyin’. In my papaw’s car, it was a Fedora. In his truck, it was a uniform cap (and white shirt with a bow tie, too. But back then…). In the garden, it was a cap or a straw hat. He was the most honest man I ever knew, my Papaw.

Study break #1. Write a list and see if you can include all the hats that you wear in your life. When you have writtten your list, return and continue reading. You will see a part of the list I wrote about the hats I wear in my life. We can compare notes. Then continue reading on, in Chapter 2.

Soli Deo Gloria!