Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Prov 3:5-6

The word Appreciation (with a capital A) comes to mind today. The challenge is how to express the meaning of Appreciation with IMPACT!!! So let’s revisit a compelling story about a man and a parachute and test to see if Appreciation impacts you before, during, or after it’s fully opened.

The Story: Who Packed Your Parachute?

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 and shares lessons he learned from that experience! As added credibility, besides serving as a Chaplain while captured, Captain Plumb’s Military honors include two Purple Hearts, the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the P.O.W. Medal.

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 thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at 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 trusted 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 the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory–he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As we go through this week, let us all recognize and Appreciate people who pack our parachutes.

I am sending you this as my way of thanking you for your part in packing my parachutes! And I hope you will send it on to those who have helped pack yours!

May the God of life, love, and light bless you, AND be the primary One who packs your parachute this week….and always!

Rom 1:8; 1 Cor 1:4; Ruth 1:8; Numbers 6:24-26