Who’s Packing Your Parachute?
By Marty Norman
“ …Guard what has been entrusted to your care.” I Timothy 6:20 NIV
Recently I read a great article about a navy pilot during the Vietnam War. Shot down over Vietnam, he was forced to eject and parachuted right into enemy hands. He spent five years in a prison camp.
Many years later he was at a restaurant. A man came up to him that he did not know and shook his hand. It turns out that this man had been his “parachute packer”. Assigned to the bowels of the ship he carefully and laboriously packed parachutes for those above ship who would be flying on mission.
We all have “parachute packers”, those who under gird us while we are out and about the business of living. I think about those in my life who have been my “parachute packers”: my parents, grandparents, priests, friends, and spiritual mentors. They are the glue that has held my life together, who have kept me buoyed between heaven and earth. I am the person I am because of them, because they took the time and energy to pack my parachute and pour into me.
Now as a grandmother, it is time to come down from the top into the bowels of the ship and really think about whose parachutes I am packing. Who am I under girding? Is there anyone I am holding up?
The answer: my kids and grandkids, and the women I mentor. But am I intentional in my decision to pour myself out upon them? Do I pour out upon those God has placed in my path?
I think of Lily my granddaughter. At seven she is more than precious. Full of life and laughter she experiences joy with each new day. When she was born I told my friends that she was a “child of joy”.
Recently she called me on the phone. “Marme, where are you”, her plaintiff voice cries into my answering machine. “I want to talk to you because you are not here, and I miss you.”
Does that tear at a grandmother’s heart or what? It makes me want to pick up my stakes and move to Austin. But that is not in the realm of reason. Instead I must be thankful for the times we have together. She grows so quickly. Scheduling time with her is one of the best investments I will ever make.
Clearly I am one of her “parachute packers”. Nothing pleases me more than to listen and spend time with her. I love it when I am there to help her with her homework, to take her shopping, to buy her the things of the heart not the things of necessity.
As I reflect on 2009 and my new year’s resolutions, I specifically focus on the opportunities that God might place before me. I am aware of my need to listen with my whole heart and pack more parachutes. As my energy wanes, my sense of urgency increases.
The best I can give Lily is my time spent with a loving father as he pours himself out on me. The more I am filled up with the spirit of the living God, the more I am able to pour out on her.
The Lord has been packing my parachute for years. So far, he has never let me down. I have yet to plummet to earth without a safety net or a way out. What the Lord has done for me I can now do for my grandchildren and friends.
Parachutes are not so bad really. You don’t use them unless you need them, but when you do, YOU NEED THEM! Thank God for the swift hands and full hearts that willingly stay in the bowels of the ship doing the work that will one day carry others in the heavenly realm.
Praise God that I am out of prison, delivered by the Lord himself, now ready to get out there and pack those parachutes.
Parachute Packer 101 is now in session.
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