Charles sat dangling his legs out the open door of the airplane. The wind whipped around his face. It was an exciting moment — his first parachute jump. The instructor tapped his shoulder, giving him the signal to jump. Charles leaned forward and pushed himself out the door.
No one knew why, but Charles’s parachute came out of its pack too quickly. As he somersaulted away from the plane, the parachute whipped back, catching on and holding tight to the tail of
the plane.
Charles found himself being towed at over 50 miles per hour about 40 feet behind the plane. He jerked desperately at the parachute lines, hoping to jerk loose from the plane. It was no use. He was caught!
Back at the door of the plane, the instructor stared back at the hung-up parachute, hardly able to believe what he saw. Charles twisted around so he could see the plane’s door. There was a questioning look on his face. As they looked at each other, the instructor stuck out his fist with his thumb up — “Everything will be all right. We’ll get you loose,” his motion said. Charles answered back with a thumbs-up fist.
The instructor pulled himself back in the door and began to study the problem. There was really no way to reach the hung-up parachute to release it. If they tried to land the plane, Charles would be killed. They needed help from somewhere else — someone to come release the helpless man.
The call went out over the plane’s radio, and everyone waited. Would help arrive before the plane’s gas ran out?
Time went by slowly for Charles while he was being towed behind the plane: 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes passed. Time was running out! The gas was running low! If he were going to be saved, he needed to be saved soon!
Suddenly Charles heard a roar above him. Looking up he saw a huge red helicopter dropping down through the mist. The helicopter hovered along about 50 feet above the slow-flying plane. A man came down a cable right to where Charles was caught. After making sure that Charles was prepared to use his emergency parachute, the rescuer cut him loose from the plane. Three seconds later the emergency parachute opened beautifully, and he floated down to a perfect first landing.
Charles is a picture to us of what each of us is like if we don’t know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We are caught in our sins and we can’t do anything to set ourselves free. No one on earth can save us. Only one Man can save us, the One who has come all the way down from heaven. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)). Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no [one comes] unto the Father but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)). Jesus is the only way to God, and His name is the only name God has given as the Savior for sinners. Has Jesus set you free from your sins?
Messages of God’s Love 1/29/2023