Thank You for the 'Parachute Packer'

At a sports banquet this week I was introduced by Coach Scott Grass to the story of Charlie Plumb. According to Mr. Plumb’s website, he flew “74 successful combat missions over North Viet Nam and made over 100 carrier landings. On his 75th mission, just five days before the end of his tour, Plumb was shot down over Hanoi, taken prisoner, tortured, and spent the next 2,103 days as a Prisoner of War.”

However, it is not what happened behind enemy lines on which Coach Grass or Charlie, if you visit his website, focuses. Instead, it is this story that illustrates well the principles from God’s Word that are voiced in our present theme: “We are the Body..knitted together by what every joint supplies!” Enjoy the story!

Recently, I was sitting in a restaurant in Kansas City. A man about two tables away kept looking at me. I didn't recognize him. A few minutes into our meal he stood up and walked over to my table, looked down at me, pointed his finger in my face and said, "You're Captain Plumb."

I looked up and I said, "Yes sir, I'm Captain Plumb."

He said, "You flew jet fighters in Vietnam. You were on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down. You parachuted into enemy hands and spent six years as a prisoner of war."

I said, "How in the world did you know all that?"

He replied, "Because, I packed your parachute."

I was speechless. I staggered to my feet and held out a very grateful hand of thanks. This guy came up with just the proper words. He grabbed my hand, he pumped my arm and said, "I guess it worked."

"Yes sir, indeed it did", I said, "and I must tell you I've said a lot of prayers of thanks for your nimble fingers, but I never thought I'd have the opportunity to express my gratitude in person."

He said, "Were all the panels there?"

"Well sir, I must shoot straight with you," I said, "of the eighteen panels that were supposed to be in that parachute, I had fifteen good ones. Three were torn, but it wasn't your fault, it was mine. I jumped out of that jet fighter at a high rate of speed, close to the ground. That's what tore the panels in the chute. It wasn't the way you packed it."

"Let me ask you a question," I said, "do you keep track of all the parachutes you pack?"

"No" he responded, "it's enough gratification for me just to know that I've served."

I didn't get much sleep that night. I kept thinking about that man. 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 board 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. How many hours did he spend on that long wooden table in the bowels of that ship weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of those chutes? I could have cared less...until one day my parachute came along and he packed it for me. Charlie Plumb

As a believer, member of the body of Christ, and a participant in Tri-County Bible Church we are a part of something bigger. We have an active purpose given to us by God the moment we are born again! At that moment we are placed into a team, a body, a family, and we are needed! What’s more, if we aren’t fulfilling our purpose, others are endangered! What a joy to fulfill our God-given purpose! Joy comes from God himself when we fulfill our purpose given by Him. We aren’t fueled simply by the praise of others.

And yet the truth is, we need others! We can’t go it alone! Appreciation and respect should be normal to us if we really understand body life as the Bible teaches it! Perhaps a thank you note to the ‘parachute packer’ or the ‘fighter pilot’ in our church is in order this week. Both are needed!

To read more about the Scriptural principles we are engaging in, read I Corinthians 12. To learn more about Charlie Plumb visit his website at www.charlieplumb.com.       

The Speed of the Gospel

Mike Monson shares some amazing facts in his article The Speed of Social Media. Here are just some of the highlights:

Every second…
2,200 tweets are posted, 580 users update their Facebook status, 24 minutes of video is uploaded to YouTube, $20 is spent on virtual goods in Social Gaming

If you printed each of these Tweets in 12 point Helvetica font and laid them end to end, the resulting stream of text would travel at 1,200 mph

Graph of top speeds:
Usain Bolt – 29.2 mph
Cheetah – 70 mph
Bugatti Veyron – 254 mph
Facebook Updates – 360 mph
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk “Stealth Fighter” – 600mph
Tweets – 1,200 mph

If you saw every update posted, you would have to read…
3.7 million words per minute on Twitter, 1 million words per minute on Facebook

The reach of social networks is spreading faster than any infectious disease in the history of mankind:
The Black Death killed 25 million people in 5 years, from 1347 to 1352. From 2005-2010, Facebook gained over 500 million users, more than the entire world population at the time of the Black Death.

Stop and compare for a minute. How long have you known the truth of the gospel? How fast is the message of the gospel getting out from your life? Greg Laurie claims that statistics say that only 1 in 20 professing Christians have ever shared the gospel. Did you catch that underlined word EVER?

I suspect this is not a statistic that would account for Christians worldwide and I also suspect that we as Americans, once known as a missionary nation, are the primary field from which this statistic derives.

Nathan Crietz rightly points out what Jesus has to say about this. Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)

Sobering words!

In New Testament days there was no social networking and yet, the speed with which the gospel went out, was amazing. There was one primary method of transmission. The gospel was carried about by the legs of individual believers and delivered by their very own voices. It was not left to David Jeremiah’s radio voice or the pastor’s sermon on Sunday. From the legs and voices of those early believers the message of the gospel moved around the world in a rapid pace.

Last week Mike Davis taught us our TCBC core value: Diligent Heralding of God’s Message. How committed are we to use social media to share not only what our children are doing, what we ate for lunch and where we have checked into, but the most important news of the gospel?

And much…much… much… more importantly, how committed are we to use the old fashioned means of using our legs to carry the message and our tongues to herald the truth, in season and out of season (II Timothy 4:2), face to face, with our co-workers, neighbors and friends?

It is my belief that if God wants the message of the gospel to get out (and He does!!), He will provide us opportunities regularly to speak for Him. Ask the Lord to give you two opportunities this week to share the gospel. When you get these opportunities, be bold, accurate and clear about God’s message. And perhaps you can share with the rest of us in the comment line below of the opportunity God provided you.

O Zion, Haste Mary A. Thompson, 1834-1923

1. O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling, to tell to all the world that God is light,that He who made all nations is not willing one soul should perish, lost in shades of night.

Refrain:

  Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace; tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

2. Behold how many thousands still are lying bound in the darksome prisonhouse of sin,with none to tell them of the Savior's dying, or of the life He died for them to win.

  (Refrain)

3. Proclaim to every people, tongue, and nation that God, in whom they live and move,is love; tell how He stooped to save his lost creation,and died on earth that we might live above.

  (Refrain)

4. Give of thine own to bear the message glorious;give of thy wealth to speed them on their way; pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious; O Zion, haste to bring the brighter day.

  (Refrain)

Tackling the Divine 'To Do' List

by Andrew Overly

Have you ever set out to do a job and became discouraged because you simply do not have the tools or the know how to do it?   You know it is a job that needs to be done; you know you should play a part in getting it done; but you feel handicapped to carry it out.   Having an old farmhouse and my skill set (do I even have a skill set L), I have a never-ending list of projects that fit into this category. 

When faced with this obstacle, what happens next?  There are many scenarios that could happen.   Here are just a few that I personally have encountered.

Scenario 1: I see the task that needs to be done, determine I can’t do it, feel overwhelmed by it, let it go undone and watch as the need grows more critical.   My sense of inability and ineptness lead me to do nothing.  The consequences are an increasingly critical issue and a nagging guilt that grows in direct proportion to the growth of the problem.

Scenario 2: I reason, “I could never do this myself, I will find someone with the tools that can.”    I assume that the only way something can be done is if a professional does it.    This may begin with a healthy sense of humility on my part but often it leads to a lack of faith that says “I never will be able to do this.”   Without trying, I put it on someone else’s list of responsibilities.

Scenario 3: I go out and get the proper tools, download or buy a manual and attempt to use it.   However, as I am working I find out I still can’t seem to get it accomplished.  I give up, defeated, and turn it over to someone else.    

Scenario 4: I buy the necessary tools; I am confronted with the fact that I don’t know how to do the job; I battle with the pride that says, “I don’t want people to know I don’t know how to do this therefore I will do it myself regardless;” and finally, I botch the job. 

Scenario 5: I buy the proper gear; I find someone who knows how to use it; I have them show me how to use it: and together, with them, I accomplish the project.   I even enjoy it.  

Scenario 6: I know how to do the task; I have the tools and the ability to do it; but I decide I just don’t want to do it hence I ignore it and leave it for someone else.

Can you relate to any or all of these scenarios?

God’s gracious gift of salvation has a goal in mind.   Ephesians 2:10 (NASB95) says, ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship,created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.   God saved us with the intention of giving us a job.  Most often the job He gives us is a job that we don’t feel able to do (See Moses in Exodus 3).

What should we do?

·         We should accept that God has given us the responsibility of the “work of the ministry.”

·         We should determine what that work of service is.   

·         We should not pass off our responsibility to serve with the thought that someone else can or will do it. 

·         We should recognize that our work will require partnering with others. 

·         We should humbly accept our current limitations without giving up and seek the help of others to train us.

·         We should use the gifts and abilities we have both to do the work of the ministry and to help others to learn how to do it. 

·         As long as we are on this side of heaven, we should remember that God has a plan for us. 

·         Ultimately, we should understand that when He calls us to a task, he enables us. (Philippians 4:13).

This past Sunday (February 5) we discussed our core value “Humble Partnership in God’s Work.”  On February 19^th we will be addressing the core value “Patient Equipping of God’s Family”   Both of these core values speak to this blog issue.  Together May God help us accomplish the work that He has called us to do.   

Post Script: 

Take note in the upcoming bulletin of the details of some “how to” training on Sunday night that will help you learn new skills in doing God’s Work.   Beginning at the end of the month, our breakout sessions on Sunday evenings will include a “How to Study the Bible” class and a class on the “Six Steps to Encouragement.”   Come add a tool to the tool belt and allow others to help you learn how to use those tools.