W H O   
                                    I S    P A C K I N G   
                                    Y O U R    P A R A C H U T E ?

Charles Plumb was a U.S. 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 6 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 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. 

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's 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. 

http://www.freelists.org/archives/morningprayer/03-2003/msg00022.html