Theme For The Year 2005: Fellowship with God, self and others.
WHO PACKED OUR PARACHUTES?
“As his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share
alike.” 1Sam 30:24
Charles Plumb was a fighter jet pilot during the Vietnam War. Many years after the war, one day, he was sitting in a restaurant when a man came up to him and said, “You are Plumb, you flew jet fighters in Vietnam. You were on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!” Plumb was amazed and asked him, “How in the world did you know all that?” The man who had been on the same ship replied, “I packed your parachute.” Then he added, “I guess it worked.” “Indeed it,” said
Plumb.
That night Plumb thought of this man who had stood at a table in the belly of the ship carefully folding parachutes for men whose lives depend on them. Plumb was saddened and humbled as he thought, “How many times might I have passed this man but didn’t even say good morning because I was a jet pilot and he was a low ranking sailor?” He was deeply disturbed for ignoring a person who worked with him in the team, but was neglected due to his low rank.
Does this often happen to us too? Sometimes we neglect those who work with us and help save our lives, for they are low ranking people. King David stands as a good example for us. In one of the wars that he fought, two hundred of his men became too weary to march farther to fight the Amalekites. So they stayed behind to guard the supplies. When David returned from battle, he made no distinction between them and his fighting men. He said, “They shall share alike.”
In God’s service, there are no low and high people, no low and high tasks. We all depend on one another. Let us share our resources, appreciate the participation of others in our lives and give thanks to God for providing them and their services. Those who encourage us, those who vehemently criticize us and those who neglect us, are all partakers of our lives. We are not islands; we are connected beneath the visible arena of life. Let’s never forget those who packed our parachutes. We live because others live..
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