Without a doubt, a cowboy’s most distinguishing mark is his hat; the kind of hat, the crease, the color, the way he wears it, and so forth. My mother used to tell stories about the way her father wore his hat. My grandfather was never a slave to fashion, especially when it came to wearing his hat. My mother said that when he bought a new hat, he never had it creased. And she said that when he picked up his hat to put it on, that he always just grabbed it by the crown and jabbed it on his head, totally unaware if it was frontward or backward or whatever.
Certainly, for my grandfather, his hat was his most physically distinguishing mark. My mother said, she never had a hard time picking him out of a crowd, all she had to do was look for his hat.
I think that’s true of most cowboys. Just the fact that we wear a hat is a mark of distinction. When we visit our family in Colorado, wherever we go, I am usually the only one wearing a cowboy hat; get lots of stares and looks. A waiter asked me one morning when I entered a restaurant to eat breakfast where my horse was. I told him that he was in his stall.
The history of the development of the cowboy hat is interesting. Some folks believe that the cowboy hat evolved from the high peaked and broad brimmed sombrero that the Spanish Vaqueros wore.
A more likely story is that the cowboy hat was invented and designed by a man named, John B. Stetson. The story is told that on a hunting trip he bragged to his buddies that he could make cloth from fur without weaving
it. He then took his ‘fur blanket’ and as a joke fashioned an enormous hat with a huge brim. For the rest of the hunting trip, Stetson wore his new creation and discovered that it protected him from the sun, rain, and all the rigors that the outdoors could throw at him.
When he went back home to Philadelphia, in 1865, using that same basic design, Stetson started making and selling cowboy hats. The original Stetson, called “Boss of the Plains” sold for $5.00 and through the years the cowboy hat has remained virtually unchanged.
The cowboy hat has served the cowboy well. It has protected him from the elements, warded off the heat and the cold, and helped keep him dry during the heavy downpour of a thunder storm. The wide brim could quickly fan a fire, whip a horse into action, and draw the attention of distant riders. By 
dipping it in a stream, he could even give his horse a drink. But for all cowboys ever since its conception by John B. Stetson, the hat has been the one true identifying mark of a cowboy.
Does a Christian have a distinctive identifying mark? Yes! In fact there are a number of ways a born-again Christian is identifiable, but believe it or not, one of those identifying marks is a hat! In the sixth chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us to “Put on the full armor of God” (6:11). Then he says, “Take the helmet (hat) of salvation” (6:17).
You see, just like the “Stetson” can keep a cowboy protected from the weather and the sun, our “hat” of salvation keeps us covered from the devil’s plans to hurt us by messing with our minds.
Get your hat snuggled down. You mind needs protection.
The Bible says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
