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Community of Joy Lutheran Church |
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I received this interesting e-mail some time ago, and considering our current involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, I wanted to share it with all y’all, because I think it brings up some very interesting points. It is called, “Packing Your Parachute.” Charles Plumb was a 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 territory. He was captured |
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Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say “hello,” or “please,” or “thank you.” Or, we might forget to congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, or to give them a compliment, or to just do something nice for (seemingly) no reason. As we go through the weeks and months to come, let’s pledge to recognize the people who “pack our parachutes.” Jesus said it this way, “Love each other as I have loved you.” That’s good advice. Let’s act on it! Have a wonderful September! In God’s Peace, |
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110 Balboa Road Hot Springs Village, AR 71909 501-915-9569 |
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and spent six years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and lectured on his experiences for several years. One day when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant - a man from 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 as he was thinking about this man. Plumb said, “I kept wondering what he had looked like in his Navy uniform. I wondered how many times I might have seen him onboard ship and never said ‘Good morning,’ ‘How are you?’ or anything else, because, you see, I was a jet 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 shroud lines and folding the silks of each chute - holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t even know. When Plumb tells the story to a group he always asks, “Who’s packing your chute?” Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through each day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of “parachutes” when his plane went down in enemy territory - his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all of these “parachutes” for support before he was liberated from the POW prison. (End story) |
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Christian Education: Come one, come all!
Here is a revised list of the topics for the next several weeks. The classes are at 10:30. Notice that some topics and dates have changed: Sept. 2nd Mormonism: Christian or Cult? Sept. 16th Consumerism: Where Is Your Treasure? Sept. 23rd Liturgy, Worship, and Community Sept. 30th ELCA Dissent: Who’s Leaving and Who’s Staying? Oct. 7th What Seminarians Learn Today Oct. 21st The Crusades Oct. 28th The 95 Theses Nov. 4th How 1st Century Jewish Family Values Shaped Christianity Nov. 11th The DaVinci Code and Jesus Nov. 18th Can Science Find the Human Soul? Nov. 25th Stewards of Creation and Global Warming Dec. 9th Judaism and Islam Dec. 16th The Dead Sea Scrolls Jan. 6th Rapture, Tribulation, & Eschatology
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