Who Packs Your Parachute?
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series V, Cycle C
Object:
As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" (vv. 12-18)
Captain Charles Plumb graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and became a jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 successful combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Fortunately, Plumb ejected from the plane and parachuted to the earth below. Unfortunately, he descended into enemy hands, where he was captured. He spent the next six years of his life in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the tribulation and uses his experiences as a motivational speaker.
He tells the story of years later sitting with his wife at 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!"
Plumb was taken aback. "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. The man replied, "I packed your parachute." 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 in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute on a long wooden table. Each time, this sailor held in his hands the fate of someone he didn't know.
When Plumb tells the story, he asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?"
We all have people who take care of us in some way. Some tasks may be great and some tasks may be small. Some may seem trivial and still hold great significance. For years, Plumb certainly had never given a thought to the man who packed his parachute and helped save his life.
Nine of the ten lepers didn't consider that Jesus was packing their parachutes. By healing them, he had given them new life. No longer were they shunned from the rest of the community and relegated to living near the sewer on the outskirts of town. Perhaps they were too wrapped up in their joy to remember Jesus' contribution to their life.
And yet, the most shunned of all, the impure half-breed Samaritan, was the one who remembered God's grace and expressed his gratitude for the life Jesus had given him. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute -- particularly the Christ who brings healing and life.
(Popular internet story verified at www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/parachute.htm)
Captain Charles Plumb graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and became a jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 successful combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Fortunately, Plumb ejected from the plane and parachuted to the earth below. Unfortunately, he descended into enemy hands, where he was captured. He spent the next six years of his life in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the tribulation and uses his experiences as a motivational speaker.
He tells the story of years later sitting with his wife at 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!"
Plumb was taken aback. "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. The man replied, "I packed your parachute." 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 in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute on a long wooden table. Each time, this sailor held in his hands the fate of someone he didn't know.
When Plumb tells the story, he asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?"
We all have people who take care of us in some way. Some tasks may be great and some tasks may be small. Some may seem trivial and still hold great significance. For years, Plumb certainly had never given a thought to the man who packed his parachute and helped save his life.
Nine of the ten lepers didn't consider that Jesus was packing their parachutes. By healing them, he had given them new life. No longer were they shunned from the rest of the community and relegated to living near the sewer on the outskirts of town. Perhaps they were too wrapped up in their joy to remember Jesus' contribution to their life.
And yet, the most shunned of all, the impure half-breed Samaritan, was the one who remembered God's grace and expressed his gratitude for the life Jesus had given him. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute -- particularly the Christ who brings healing and life.
(Popular internet story verified at www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/parachute.htm)
