Magazine for April 2011
| In the Vietnam war, Charles Plumb was a jet pilot. After 75 missions, his plane was shot down and Charles ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. Years later, a man approached him and said “You’re Charles Plumb! You flew fighters in Vietnam and you were shot down!”
“How in the world did you know that?” asked Charles in amazement. ”I packed your parachute,” the man replied, and added, “I guess it worked!” Charles assured him, “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.” |
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That night, he couldn’t sleep, wondering how many times he might have seen him and not even said ‘Good morning,’ The fighter pilots rarely had any conversation with the sailors. He thought of the many hours the sailor had spent carefully folding each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.
Who’s packing your parachute? Everyone has someone who provides something of what they need to make it through the day. A physical parachute, a mental parachute, a emotional parachute, and a spiritual parachute.
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; forget to congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them; overlook giving a compliment, or just doing something nice for no reason.
As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognise the people who pack your parachute.
P. E. Archer