(65)

Who Packs Your Parachutes?

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 your chute had not worked, I would not be here today.”

Plumb could not 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.

Now,  Plumb  asks  his  audience,  “Who  is  packing your parachute?" 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, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.