Something You Can Be Sure Of

At 9:30 PM, June 5, 1944—the eve of the Normandy Invasion—paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division were boarding dozens of C47 aircraft.

The Great Crusade

The planes would not land the Soldiers in France. The Soldiers would jump from these planes at a low altitude behind enemy lines as the spearhead of the “Great Crusade” against the Axis Powers. 

On that anxious evening, NBC Radio correspondent Wright Brown was interviewing the paratroopers. Among the many he spoke with was PFC Robert Hillman of Manchester, Connecticut. PFC Hillman, like all the other paratroopers, had thoroughly checked his equipment. When Wright Brown asked him, “Do you ever worry that your chute might be defective and not open?” PFC Hillman answered, “Not this time. Tonight I know my chute will open.” 

“How can you be so sure?” Brown asked. 

“Because,” explained Hillman, “while checking my chute, I noticed that it was manufactured by the Pioneer Parachute Company in my hometown, in Connecticut, and I know everyone that works there. But what makes me certain this chute will not fail me is that it was inspected by someone I trust more than anyone else on earth.” He then pulled out the inspection slip he found in the flap of his parachute. “My mother works as an inspector at Pioneer Parachute Company. This inspection slip has her initials on it. My own mother has inspected my chute.”

Our own worries

Why do we allow ourselves to be tortured by worries about the future? Why do we worry about future challenges and concerns over our children, our health, and our finances? As if everything hung on the precarious possibility that our parachute might not open? Be encouraged. Our own Heavenly Father has manufactured, packed, and inspected our parachute. Someone who loves us supremely, who is all-powerful and all-wise, and who is completely trustworthy, has thought-out every detail of our future. And He has made provision for everything. We can be sure of it.

Scripture

Consider Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount. 

“I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon, in all his glory, was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:25–33, New Living Translation). 

PRAYER: 

Thank You, O Lord, that Someone who loves me has inspected every detail of my future. Nothing has escaped Your scrutiny, dear Father. Everything has been taken care of. Thank You for Your great faithfulness to me. Amen.