WATCHWORD:
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:2
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Exodus 23:20
Meditation:
Labor Day – Who Packed Your Parachute?
On this Labor Day we honor all those responsible for the comfort and ease of our lives. We thank those who serve to protect us, those who make are coming and going on highways and byways smooth, for those who teach us, those that are there when we are in need. and for those who provide us with the utilities that we need for the lives that we have. Then there are others in our past who, while not with us now, have had a hand in shaping our character and our lives. We honor all these and more.
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 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 navy top with 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, and in packing it, he was holding in his hands the fate of someone he didn’t know.
So, who packed your parachute?
Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down — 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.We never know who has had a hand in ‘packing our parachute’ or when your presence, your support will lift another out of darkness and difficulties.
As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize and pray for those people who “packed your parachute”, and keep in mind, you do your share of packing the ‘chute’ for others along the way.
This is a message for all of us. In this life, there are so many who have touched our lives in a variety of ways, that guided us to where we are now. Angels, unaware? Our successes, our accomplishments, all of those things and events that we were so proud of, that were the result of each nudge, each prayer, each blessing, each grace that came our way, shaping, sanding off the rough edges, filling in the cracks to create the perfect you that God intended you to be. Thank you, parachute packers! You are Angels. See the one in the mirror?
Wisdom Speaks:
The upcoming election will be based on two factors: #1. How dense the population is, and #2. How dense the population is.
Morning Prayers:
Dear God, on this Labor Day, we give You thanks for all those who work in stores and markets, in mines and fields, on ships and planes, in the armed forces, in factories and warehouses, in hospitals and churches, in offices and classrooms. God, we benefit from the labor of so many people, many of whom we never see. Thank You for their good work and faithful service. And thank You for our market economy that provides jobs and benefits to so many people. May our work always glorify You. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
