MANY of us are familiar with parachutes – devices for slowing down the descent or the falling speed of persons or things dropping from airplanes. Parachutes are made of fabric (initially silk and now nylon), shaped somewhat like umbrellas. They are generally carried folded in packs and are released by rip cords. These parachutes are now adopted as standard airplane equipment by the military. Not many know that it was Leonardo da Vinci in 1495 who first came out with the idea of a parachute. However, it was only in 1783 when the first successful parachute jump from a high tower was made by a Frenchman named Louis Sebastien Lenormand. A parachute makes the difference between life and death. If a parachute is not properly packed and does not work (it fails to open when the parachutist drops from an airplane in the sky), death for the parachutist may result.
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Let me share with you a story about Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate who flew jets in Vietnam. This is the story.
"After 75 combat missions, Charles Plumb was shot down by a surface-toair missile. He ejected and parachuted into the jungle. The Vietcong captured him and held him prisoner for six years in North Vietnam. Today, Charles Plumb lectures on lessons learned from that experience.
"One day, when he and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came over 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 the former pilot.
"I packed your parachute!" he said. Plumb gasped in surprise. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!"
"Plumb assured him it did. ‘If your chute handn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today."
"The pilot couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about the stranger. He wondered how many times he might have seen him and not spoken because he was a fighter pilot and the man who packed his chute was "just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the faith of someone he didn’t know.
"When Plumb lectures, he asks his audience, "Who’s packing your parachute?" (Excerpts from One Minute Can Change Your Life.)
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Indeed, the question "Who’s packing your parachute?" is a thought-provoking one. For certainly, all of us have at least somebody who has provided for us and has guided and has helped us get through our lives. Someone who has been our physical parachute; our mental parachute; our emotional parachute; and our spiritual parachute. We all have our packs of parachutes in life. These are the people we owe our lives to. People who have imbued in us the values in life; who have comforted us during our periods of crisis; who have guided us in our emotional healing; who have been reminding us about the boundless love, grace and mercy of a living God; and who are always around to give us joy and hope.
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We cannot always be in the receiving end, though. We have to share. We also have to "pack the parachutes" of others. What we receive, we should also give. This is a precious legacy that we should leave behind. This is Biblical. Looking after the interest of others, that is. In the book of Philippinians in the New Testament, we find the following verse: "Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4).
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We can eat only so much a day; we can wear only so many clothes a day; we can spend only so much a day for our needs; we can only store our money and other wealth for a limited time; we can maximize our Godgiven talents only for a while; and the end of our life comes any moment. Despite advances in technology. The message I am trying to get across is simply this: Today is an opportune time for all of us to share our blessings with others – our material riches, our God-given talents, our time, and our spiritual faith. Many of our brothers and sisters are in great suffering nowadays. Physical, emotional and spiritual. We have to "pack their parachutes" with great care and compassion – in the same way that others also packed for us our life parachutes. This is the only way we can add meaning and spiritual fulfillment to our lives.
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By the way, this column continues to give out copies of the Holy Bible for free to those who cannot afford to buy their own copies. If interested, please send your letterrequest to Ms. Nelly Favis Villafuerte, 5th Floor Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Roxas Blvd., Manila. Kindly mention if it is the Tagalog, English, Cebuano, or Ilocano version that is preferred.
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This column is also giving out for free a 42-page 3x5 inch booklet that briefly explains the said doctrine of salvation presented in the Holy Bible. To those who are struggling as to what the Holy Bible really says on how souls can be saved from eternal damnation, please do not hesitate to write me and ask for a copy of this booklet. Let us not forget the Biblical verse that says "What profits a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?"
Be joyful and forgiving!
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