Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”
“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb. “I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!”
Plumb assured him,“It sure did. If that chute you packed hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today!”
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.”
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.
When Plumb delivers one of this lectures, he includes this story. After telling the story Plumb asks his audience, “Who's packing your parachute?”
He states that everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory - he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, pay a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year and next year, recognize people who have “packed your parachute.”
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Sometimes, we wonder why friends send e-mail jokes and articles to us without writing a word. Maybe this could explain it! They are thinking of you and just want to keep in touch and let you know it. So, how can that be done for friends they want to reach — by forwarding quips, jokes and anecdotes.
That lets you know you are still remembered; that you are still important; that you are especially thought of; AND, that you are still cared about!
So, next time you get a forwarded e-mail with a joke or an article of interest, don't think that you've just been sent something without thought. Realize and remember that you've been fondly remembered that day; that your friend on the other end of your computer thought of you and wanted to send you a smile by helping you “pack your parachute”.
- Author Unknown
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Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 ESV
Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. Luke 6:31 NASB
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4 ESV
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If you have a story or testimony that you think might bless others,
I invite you to send it by email to me (Kenneth Kersey) at godsotherways@me.com.
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