The Parachute

Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter 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 six years in a Communist prison.

He survived that ordeal and now lectures about 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 Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered 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 the day. Plumb 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. His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead. Recognize people who pack your parachute and strengthen yourself to prevail through tough times.

— Author Unknown

Meditation: And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, – 1 Thessalonians 5:12

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Your Hand in Prayer

1. Your thumb is nearest to you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to ones to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C.S. Lewis once said, a “sweet duty.”

2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom for pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.

3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God’s guidance.

4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger; as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.

5. And lastly comes our little finger, the smallest finger of all, which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, “The least shall be the greatest among you.” Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

When you find it hard to get to sleep tonight; just remember the homeless family who has no bed to lie in.

When you find yourself stuck in traffic; don’t despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

When you have a bad day at work, think of the man who has been out of work for the last three months.

When you despair over a relationship gone bad, think of the person who has never known what it is like to love and be loved in return.

When you grieve the passing of another weekend, think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for a paltry sum to feed her family.

When your car breaks down, leaving you miles away from assistance, think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

When you notice a new gray hair in the mirror, think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

When you find yourself at a loss, and pondering what is life all about, what is my purpose, be thankful. There are those who didn’t live long enough to get the opportunity.

When you find yourself the victim of other people’s bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities, remember, things could be worse. You could be them.

— Author Unknown

Meditation: In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Where “U” Are Needed

“U” are needed in Bible ST_DY, but not in IGNORANCE.

“U” are needed in S_PPORT, but not in NEGLECT.

“U” are needed in _NITY, but not in DIVISION.

“U” are needed in D_TY, but not in IRRESPONSIBILITY.

“U” are needed in B_ILDING, but not in TEARING DOWN.

“U” are needed in CH__RCH!!

— Author Unknown

Meditation: Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. – Hebrews 4:1

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

The Daffodil Principle

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come see the daffodil before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

“I will come next Tuesday,” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”

“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“How far will we have to drive?”

“Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”

After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!”

“We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.”

“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.”

“It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, “Daffodil Garden.”

We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

“But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn.

“It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,” it reads. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.” There it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience.

I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun-one bulb at a time to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time – often just one baby-step at a time – and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said. It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?”

— Author Unknown

Meditation: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. – Ecclesiastes 9:10

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Perspectives

One day, a financially comfortable father decided to take his son to the country, with the purpose of showing him how poor people live, so that the son could understand the value of things, and realize how fortunate they were.

They stayed overnight at a very humble family’s farm for one day and one night. As the trip ended, and during their return home, the father asked his son:

“So what did you think of the trip?”

“It was great, dad!”

“Did you see how poor and needy some people have to live?”

“Yes!”

“And what did you learn?”

“I saw that we have one dog in the house, but they have four. We have a huge swimming pool, but they have a river that never ever ends. We have imported lamps in the patio, they have the stars. Our backyard ends at the fence, but theirs goes on and on into the horizon. Especially though, dad, I saw that they have time to talk to each other and live as a family. You and Mom have to work all day, and I hardly see you both!”

As the conversation ended, the father remained silent, and his son added: “Thanks Dad, for showing me how rich we could be!”

The moral of this story is two-pronged; whilst the son of the rich man helped his father to see how poor they are; the people in the country where they visited must also be regarding their rich visitors with envy and consciousness of their own poverty. And whilst the son of the rich man envied them for what they had, they too might be envying him for what he had. It’s all in the perspectives.

— Author Unknown

Meditation: Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. – Hebrews 13:5

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Let Go of the Past

My child,

Give up! Give up those hurts of the past. It’s time to move on. Satan loves to have you live in the past because that renders you ineffective to live in the present – in the now.

Tell Me, child. What is it that has happened to you? Who hurt you? What mistakes have you made that you regret? Did what happen to you change the fact that Jesus loves you, and He died on the cross for you so you could live in heaven with Him for all eternity?

Can anything or anyone ever change that fact? You know that nothing can ever nullify what Jesus did for you on the cross. If that is true – and it is – then nothing else matters, does it?

There is nothing that can happen to you; nothing anyone can do to you that can ever change the fact that My Son, Jesus, loves you and died on the cross for you so you gain heaven for all eternity. No one can ever take that away from you. No One!

Hold on to that thought. Put things in their proper perspective. When you do that, you’ll see that being loved unconditionally, attaining salvation and the right to go to heaven is your ultimate goal. Everything else pales in comparison to that.

Even physical death cannot take heaven away from you, for then the real you – your spirit – just changes abodes. Physical death for Christians is moving from living in the temple of the Holy Spirit, your body, to living in heaven.

I know, My child, I know. Your mind is often filled with hurtful things that happen to you. Sometimes you even say to people “You don’t know how much it hurt Me when such and such happened.” Well, I ask you again, does what happen to you in the past change the fact that Jesus loves you and died for you, and now you can spend eternity with Him in heaven? I don’t have to wait for your answer, because I know immediately your mind said, “No!”

Then, child, nothing else matters! Compared to eternity, all problems are nothing. Loving Me, being in My family, gaining the right to live in heaven for eternity – that’s what’s important in life. If you lose that, you’ve lost it all. Don’t hold grudges. forgive! Nothing you can gain on earth can make up for that loss, and nothing can happen to you on earth that can take that away from you – Nothing!

Love,

God.

— Author Unknown

Meditation: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Plant Four Rows

Plant four rows of peas:

Prayer

Penitence

Patience

Preparation

Plant four rows of squash:

Squash gossip

Squash indifference

Squash criticism

Squash negative thinking

Plant four rows of turnips:

Turn up for Church

Turn up whenever needed

Turn up with a friendly smile

Turn up with determination to be a better person

Plant four rows of lettuce:

Let us soar to new heights

Let us come together in harmony

Let us share God’s love, and

Let us practice forgiveness

Enjoy the harvest!

— Author Unknown

Meditation: Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:14

You will succeed in Jesus Name!