Humor 10/17/99: Bulletin Bloopers & Who Packed Your Parachute?

Hi everyone,

I hope you're doing well. I had a packed but fun week and weekend. I'm

slowly catching up on all my schoolwork and other club activities.

This coming Wednesday I'll be returning to New York City for a friend's
wedding. On Friday, I'm thinking of going to the Metropolitan Museum of

Art's special exhibit on Chinese art. If you like art, and have some
time during the day on Friday to go to the MET, please let me know. If
you need to reach me in New York, my parents' number is: 718-454-7608.
I should still have access to email. If I don't get a chance to talk to

you in New York, I'll be back in New York for several weeks during
Christmas and we can catch up then.

I thought of this week's thought provoking question several weeks ago
while waiting on line at Disneyland. A long time ago, there was a movie

called (I think), "The man with the golden watch and everything."
Whoever holds this special golden watch could stop time. Everyone else
would be frozen in time, but the person who holds the watch can do
whatever he or she wants. So, this week's thought provoking question
is: "If you have this special golden watch and could stop time at whim,

how would you use this device?"

This week's humor was forwarded by someone on the UCLA IVGCF list,
followed by an inspirational story forwarded by Steve Lee. Enjoy!

-Josh.
_________________________________________

Some NEW Church Bulletin Bloopers:

Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa will be speaking tonight at
Calvary Memorial Church in Racine. Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch
all the way from Africa.

Announcement in the church bulletin for a National PRAYER & FASTING
Conference. "The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference
includes meals".

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the
recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again" giving obvious

pleasure to the congregation.

"Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of
those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your
husbands".

Next Sunday is the family hay ride and bonfire at the Fowlers'. Bring
your own hot dogs and guns. Friends are welcome! Everyone come for a
fun time.

Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't

care much about you.

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a
conflict.

The sermon this morning: "Jesus walks on the water". The sermon
tonight: "Searching for Jesus".

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the
help they can get.

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more
transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of

Pastor Jack's sermons.

The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people
who are afflicted with any church.

The Pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would
lend him their girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday morning.

Remember in prayer those who are sick of our church and community.

Next Sunday Mrs. Vinson will be soloist for the morning service. The
pastor will then speak on "It's a terrible experience".
____________________________

Who Packed your Parachute?

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.

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 lands. 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, 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. As you go through this week, this month, this

year... recognize people who pack your parachute!--
_____________________________________

Joshua Li
14400 Addison Ave. #119
Sherman Oaks CA 91423
(818)461-8930
Instant Messenger ID: joshli
Permanent Email: joshli@post.harvard.edu
http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/joshua.li/