Fresh Mannaby Pastor Tim BurtWho's Packing Your Parachute?(Author Unknown)Not too long ago, I ran across the story of Charles Plumb, a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After graduating from the Naval Academy, he completed Navy Flight Training and reported to Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego. The Navy Fighter Weapons School is what's known by many from the movies as “TOP GUN.”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 he learned from that experience.
One day, Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant when a man from a nearbytable came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from theaircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!""How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. The man replied, "I packed yourparachute." Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. He kept wondering what thissailor might have looked like in his Navy uniform. He wondered how many times hemight have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything elsebecause he was a fighter pilot, and this man was just a sailor.Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in thebowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute,holding in his hands the fate of someone he didn't know. Now, Plumb asks this questionto his audience whenever he speaks, "Who's packing your chute?"Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb 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. And he needed all of these support systems before reaching safety.Often in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you. We may fail to congratulate someone onsomething wonderful that has happened, offer a compliment, or just do something nicefor no reason.May I encourage you to be a little more mindful of those special opportunities that come your way each day where you can make a difference in someone else’s life. And perhaps pay a little more attention to the people in your everyday life. After all, you never know who may be packing your ‘chute. Click here to learn more about Captain Charlie Plumb
