I was having a conversation with an old friend the other day about organized religion when an analogy popped into my mind. It was this. Life is like jumping out of an airplane while it is cruising along above the earth. Everyone of us has a parachute on. Some of us know we have a parachute on and some of us don't, but everyone has one. Naturally those who don't know they have a parachute on are much more stressed out as they come closer and closer to the earth than those who know they have a parachute. However, even those who know they have a parachute have some stress in their life to the extent that they don't know if the parachute will open properly when they pull the ripcord. Some have parachutes packed by Buddhists; some by Hindus; some by Jews; some by Muslims; some by Christians. Among the Christians some have parachutes packed by Catholics; some by Lutherans; some by Quakers. Some parachutes were packed on Monday by people just getting over weekend partying; some were packed on Fridays by people anxious to start their weekend. A few of us packed our own after learning everything we could about packing a parachute and even testing the ones we packed to the best of our ability.
I think the Spirit was telling me that life is filled with uncertainty but the better our own personal relationship with God is, the less anxiousness we will experience as we get closer to that time when we have to pull that ripcord and land.
That's why it's important to ask ourselves: Who packed my parachute?