What is a “just-in-time” moment that I am grateful for?

A memory looms. I’m around 7 years old and I have floated on my back into water too deep for my feet to touch the bottom of the crowded swimming pool. I cannot swim. I panic and begin thrashing the water, bobbing up and down, swallowing what feels like buckets of water. Other kids swim by me but do not recognize my distress. Finally a teenage hand reaches out and grabs mine and pulls me to a pool exit ladder and deposits me on the side of the pool. If not for that “just in time” moment, I doubt I would be celebrating my 80th birthday later this month. Two nights ago, my phone rang at mid-night and woke me up. My sister’s name flashed across the I.D. screen. I answered it immediately, knowing something had to be amiss. When I said hello, she blurted out my 48 year old nephew’s name. She said he was dead. I replied, “What?” She replied, “A massive heart attack!” We are not always given a “just in time” moment. In the last 48 hours, I’ve pondered over the gun violence in our country, the unjustifiable wars raging around our planet, the thirst for power no matter what it costs, the young children who will die from bombs or starvation. As a species, we need a “just in time” moment before we destroy it all.