Jacob is an Amish father and woodworker who moved to our town about a year ago. He is related to Moise and is a close friend of his.

When I stopped by to drop off some books for his daughters Mary and Sissy, I heard some sawing from inside the barn.

In a couple of minutes, Jacob and his son came out of the barn carrying a huge garage door they had just built.

Jacob looked uncomfortable and exhausted, and I asked him if he was okay, and he said he couldn’t be near a saw for two long, he was extremely sensitive to loud noises ever since he was struck in the head and nearly killed five or six years ago by a 15-pound sledgehammer.

Being a former journalist, I couldn’t let that story drop.

I asked him what happened.

He said he was working on a barn raising five or six years ago when another Amish worker working on the roof above him swung a huge sledgehammer down on some heavy nails. The sledgehammer slipped out of the workers’ hands and came down fast and hard on the front of Jacob’s head, knocking him unconscious.

The other workers, horrified, tried to awaken him, but they couldn’t.

They couldn’t find a pulse.  Everyone thought he was dead.

Jacob said he heard their voices but could not move for nearly ten minutes. Then, he was able to move, but he could not speak for some time.

I asked him if anyone called an ambulance, and he said no, nobody did; they respected his discomfort with doctors and hospitals.

They tried to rouse him as he lay unconscious on the ground.

When he did speak, he asked to be taken home. After a few days of pain and confusion and memory loss, he agreed to see a doctor.

After that, he experienced headaches, blurry vision, hearing problems, and other issues.

He finally went to see a brain surgeon known to the Amish. The doctor practices in South Dakota, and he sees Jacob once a year.

I admit to a kind of social bigotry when it comes to doctors, the best ones, I have always believed, work in big cities with big hospitals and lots of research money.

But that’s just me. The Amish will go to hospitals, but they have no great desire to be in big cities.

Jacob says this doctor helped restore his hearing, focus, and memory. He’s not sure how the doctor does this, and I didn’t ask.

Workers in our culture have grown increasingly safety-conscious in recent years.

Construction workers wear helmets, safety ear muffs, heavy boots, protective gloves and eyeglasses, bright yellow and red illumination vests, clamps, and ropes to fasten heights.

I’ve been to four Amish barn and home raisings; the Amish wear none of those safety protections. That is no surprise to me, the Amish ask God to keep them safe, and they accept his will, either way.

The Amish faith is one of acceptance and risk.

They expect to experience injuries, setbacks, even death.  Sacrifice is part of faith – just look at Jesus.

And they don’t s second guess God or expect him to protect them from harm.

Jacob seems in good health. He is strong, sharp, and articulate. He is a skilled woodworker; he sold nearly 100 raised garden beds in our town in just a few weeks.

He also has a lively sense of humor –  he and I have a lot of fun talking with one another –  and his mind seems sharp and very focused.

But clearly, his head still bothers him, and he struggles with his hearing whenever there is a loud noise. This is a challenge for a woodworker with kerosene power saws. He still suffers some fatigue.

I don’t push issues like this with my Amish friends, their practices are their business, I’m not going to be scolding them,  but Jacob’s horrific story was told matter-of-factly,  with no drama or self-pity.

It was disturbing to me.

His South Dakota doctor has not been able to help him with his hearing issues, but he has kept Jacob going and working hard.

Jacob accepts this as a part of life; he is resigned to it.

But I guess I’m not.

I told Jacob I  had a flash.

God had just told me to get him a pair of safety earmuffs.

That seems to confound the Amish, they aren’t quite sure how to respond.

He looked at me strangely. Under Amish practice, he couldn’t ask me for that kind of help. But he can accept it if it doesn’t interfere with clearly stated religious beliefs.

Decibel Defense makes these muffs; the reviews say they are the highest-rated and most comfortable ear production available for people who work in construction or around loud noises (which Jacob does every day.)

Some research  I did suggested that Jacob was at risk of losing his hearing or activating additional brain damage, even stroke. The ear muffs could make a big difference.

I came back to Jacob the next morning and told him I had purchased a pair of these safety ear muffs, and they would be arriving next week. I said they would block out between 0 and 80 percent of the noise in his workshop, mostly hammering and sawing wood.

I’ve seen how the Amish work, from plowing with horses to building with no protection but straw heats. It’s their choice, not mine, and I have no right to judge them.

But Jacob’s issue, like the illumination on Moise’s carts, seems to me to be something that can be helped without challenging or ignoring their basic beliefs.

The earmuffs are a good compromise. They will enable him to work in comfort without risking further damage to his brain or neural systems. Beyond that, these are his choices to make. I am not his mother, his God, or his judge.

And I’ve seen a number of Amish men – no women – take their hats off when working in the sun.

The earmuffs arrive next week, the same day he hopes to begin work on a garage he is building with the help only of his son, who is now 21 and is paid for the work he does.

He guesses it will take a week, an hour-long drive in his buggy each way, and almost continuous sawing and hammering.

I just went on Amazon to see if I could upgrade to faster and more expensive shipping. The computer wouldn’t let me do it, but when I called and got someone in Pakistan, they were very helpful. The earmuff should come the day before the garage work starts.

I’m hoping that taking the straw hats off to make room for the ear muffs is an option because the earmuffs would not fit underneath them.

I think Jacob really wants to stop the ringing in his ears when there is a loud noise.

After all, I reckon, God cuts both ways. If he can talk to them, he can talk to me.