Articles
Parachutes
Charles Plumb is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who was a jet pilot during the Vietnam War. He was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison and survived. He now lectures on how he survived and what lessons he learned.
Plumb and his wife were in a restaurant; a man approached and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the Kitty Hawk; you were shot down.” Plumb asked how in the world did you know that? The man replied, “I packed your parachute” The man shook Plumb’s hand and said, “I guess it worked.” Plumb stated that indeed it worked, otherwise he would not be here today. Plumb tells this story, then asks the audience, Who Packs Your Parachute? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through another day. Plumb points out that he needed many parachutes to get him through the everyday life in enemy hands. He needed, his physical parachute, his emotional parachute and bringing it all together, his spiritual parachute.
As Christians, we can sometimes go about worship, classes, and other activities and never realize the little things that make all of it possible. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something great that has happened to them. Do we neglect to help pack someone’s parachute?
We know that the Church provides the parachutes that Plumb referred to. In Matt. 6:28-34, Jesus tells us that we are not to worry about our physical needs. Verse 32 states “for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Jesus goes further to state that we must put the kingdom of God and righteousness first and then we will have what we need. When we view the emotional parachute, Gal. 6:2 tells us that Christians should bear one another’s burdens. Do we decline this parachute instead of having a fellow brother or sister help us or pray for us? The preceding verse (Gal. 6:1) starts with “brethren”. If a member is overtaken with a trespass, we are to restore this person with gentleness, because we could be in the same boat and need help. The spiritual parachute is the church that was purchased with the blood of Jesus (Heb. 9:11-15). In John 3:17, we are told that God didn’t send Jesus to condemn the world but that the world through Jesus might have hope of being saved. In John 14:5, Thomas asked Jesus, “How can we know the way”. Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Now just like the fighter pilot, we need to take action and put on the spiritual parachute and pull the rip cord. We need to take advantage of the saving power of Jesus. If you are not a Christian, you are missing the saving power. You need to ask just like in Acts 2:37, “what shall we do.” Peter gave a simple answer for all, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…..”
