setup: [E-Mail Ministry] The Parachute

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THE PARACHUTE

Charles Plum, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in
Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a
surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected & parachuted into enemy hands. He was
captured & spent six years in a Communist prison.

He survived that ordeal & now lectures about lessons learned from that
experience.

One day, when Plumb & his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at
another table came up & 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 &
gratitude. The man pumped his hand & 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 might have looked like in a Navy uniform-a Dixie cup
hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered how many times
I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered how many times I might
have seen him & not even said good morning, how are you or anything because,
you see, I was a fighter pilot & he was just a sailor.

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table
in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds & 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. 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, & his spiritual parachute."

He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience
reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead.

SUGGESTION: Recognize people who pack your parachute & strengthen yourself
to prevail through tough times.

-- Author Unknown

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