DT: Friday…2/16/01

FR: Wes Roberts

RE: http://www.truthorfiction.com

Hello…on a rather dreary Friday afternoon …but Judy and I are feeling good inside…and out:

May I make a confession of being “guilty” concerning some of the emails I’ve possibly sent your way? I am. No ifs…ands…or buts about it. Some of you good souls also join me in paddling the “guilt canoe” too. You just don’t know that yet. 🙂

What am I talking about?

Round and round through cyperspace goes many different kinds of stories as if they were “gospel truth.” Recently one did the rounds that had President Bush paying “gospel attention” to a teen at a luncheon.

Nice thought. Nice story. Not true. At all.

One of our longer, finer, most fascinating and delightful friends (37 years ago we met in college…I was bestman in their wedding of 12/66…he sang in our wedding of 3/67) has been studying “urban legends” for over 30 years.

This good man will, with great love and care, from time to time chastise me in a warm, solid, brotherly way when I send out a “good story” that is just that…a good story. But, THE truth be known, not true.

A couple of Saturday mornings ago you may have seen him on CNN when a whole half hour was devoted to the subject of urban legends. Who is this good dude? His name is Rich Buhler. Rich is a master communicator in many kinds of media…an author, radio, television, etc. He has a deep heart fully devoted to our Triune God.

I could not encourage you more to check out his wedsite on this issue of stories that come to all of us via email and other places (even sermons)…

http://www.truthorfiction.com

Please take the time to read through the whole website. Read all the pages. Look for and check out the stories you have and are passing around…about viruses…about ill children…about “evil” corporations…about a huge range of subjects. Let’s help each other be truth tellers of the highest order in this worl in which we live. Is what you may be gung-ho to pass on just a good story (fiction)…or…is it really, really true (truth)?

I am now regularly sending things I get to Rich to let this master of urban legends tell me the truth…before I send it on to you…or anyone else. You can do that too through his webpage…http://www.truthorfiction.com

What follows I got yesterday. Great story. I immediately sent it on to Rich.

Thankfully, this IS a true story. Rich has talked to Charles Plumb, himself, to validate the story. Enjoy. And be careful what you pack into your future emails…as well as any other relationships.

Blessings…

Wes

PS– If you would…would you send this email to others who send you stories? I know there is a whole bunch of us out there that need to know about http://www.truthorfiction.com Thanx!

PSPS– And please keep sending your stories to me…I love ’em! Just please tell me ahead of time…because you really know and have checked it out if the story IS truth or fiction.

* * * * * * *

Who packs your parachutes

As we work with men and women of younger generations, and those adults around us, in our work/ministries, in the committies/boards we may serve on, concerning those we may impact/mentor/coach in some way, we need to remember that we help “pack parachutes” for each other. May we do it thoughtfully and well.

Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a 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 on 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 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 on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship. Than took hours to carefully weave 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, when he speaks, 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.

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 you go through the rest of this day, this week, this month, this year… recognize people who pack your parachute. And be aware of how you are doing the packing of other’s parachutes.