Did you know that a healthy mind means a healthy heart? This isn't just physically, but spiritually as well.
I have no memory of my thirteenth birthday.
I remember a few things my family told me about that day, but, I have no personal memories of the celebration. In fact, I don’t know what gifts were given to me or if there was a party and if so, who came to celebrate.
I received a hard blow to the head during a football game doing a quarterback sneak.
I remember the game. It was in Mead, Washington.
I remember calling the play in the huddle; calling the signals under center and receiving the hike then plunging forward.
That’s where the memory ends.
That evening and the next three days are gone for me.
I had two more experiences with head trauma in football games.
During my junior year of high school, a hard tackle gave me another blow to the head that left me dizzy and with a fuzzy memory for about two hours.
My senior year, during football practice, I laid a hard tackle on our fullback. For some reason, coach had me playing linebacker in practice.
Hammond came through the line low and I came at him low. He went lower and I got lower. We hit head on and piled up. I came out of the pile, not remembering my name, address or where I was at.
I didn’t tell coach, because he would not let me play again. It only lasted for about thirty minutes.
You are right! I am a slow learner; why did I continue playing?
It is critically important the NCAA, the NFL and high school and youth sports organizations look at this important issue.
Even more important, God addresses the issue of spiritual head trauma.
Oxford Journal, Continuing Education in Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain, made an interesting connection between head trauma and cardiovascular health issues in an article entitled “Cardiovascular Complications of Brain Injury.” The article was written by Tamsin Gregory, MBBS MRCP FRCA and Martin Smith, MBBS FRCA FFICM. They stated “Cardiovascular complications are common after brain injury and are associated with increased mortality and morbidity.”
They listed four cardiovascular complications that arise from serious head trauma.
The prophet Isaiah connected the issue of spiritual head trauma and spiritual heart complications. “Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment” (Isaiah 1:5-6 NKJV).
Old and New Testament connects the significant relationship between a healthy head and a healthy heart. The writer of Proverbs warned, “Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you” (Proverbs 23:6-7 NKJV).
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians believers, “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind
