Unnoticed but important

Thought for the Day: “We must remember throughout our lives that in God’s sight there are no little people and no little places.” – Francis Schaeffer

Scripture: “Without guidance, people fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.” - Proverbs 11:14

Reflection: Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. His plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile and he parachuted into enemy hands spending 6 years as a POW. He survived and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb was sitting in a restaurant, a man came up to him 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. The man shook his hand and said, “I guess it worked!” Plumb assured him, “If it hadn't I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night thinking about that man. Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he 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.” I thought of how many hours the sailor had spent in the bowels of the ship, carefully folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know. Now, Plumb asked his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?”

Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, thank you, congratulate someone, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this day recognize people who pack your parachute.

Written by:
TIMOTHY M. STANSBERRY
Chaplain (CPT) USA