Because of Holyweek celebration This message which I would like to share with you...
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 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.
I a m sending you this as my way of thanking you for your part in
packing my
parachute. And I hope you will send it on to those who have helped
pack
yours!
Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without
writing
a word. Maybe this could explain it: When you are very busy, but still
want
to keep in touch, guess what you do -- you forward jokes. And to let
you know
that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still
loved,
you are still cared for, guess what you get? A forwarded joke.
So my friend, next time when you get a joke, don't think that you've
been
sent just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of
today
and
your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a
smile, just
helping you pack your parachute........
