Thanks for Packing My Chute!

Charles Plumb was a U.S. 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 might have 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 on 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 each day.

In reading this story a couple of things stood out to me.

Before Plumb was shot down his attitude of self-importance demonstrated in thoughts such as: "I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."

Often we put overseas missionaries on pedestals and discount the role that we have in their lives. We might reason:

"I'm just a fellow in Missouri who teaches missionaries phonetics. My role is insignificant!"

"I'm just a church member who prays for missionaries. My role is insignificant!"

"I'm just a blue-collar worker who supports a missionaries financially. My role is insignificant!"

After Plumb was shot down he realized that this insignificant sailor was "holding in his hands the fate of someone he didn't know." That really put things into perspective.

It has been said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. There are many links to the chain of reaching unreached people groups. And there are no insignificant links.

   

God has a team of people who are packing my parachute every day through their prayers and their financial gifts to my ministry. I am so thankful for each and every one who take the time to pack my chute.

I would be blessed if you would consider being a part of that team packing my parachute. To learn more, please click here or send me an email.

Because of Calvary,

Bob Nyberg