A week or so ago, I dropped my niece off at a friend's house and as I made my way down the side street a woman slowed briefly at a stop sign at an intersection I was approaching and then she charged on through it. I had to slam on my brakes to keep from plowing into her. She had what appeared to be an older child in the front seat (buckled up from what I could tell) and she was probably either distracted or had just grown accustomed to coasting threw that particular stop sign. Thankfully, I'm paranoid on side streets because of many other near miss experiences, so I'm always ready to hit the breaks. I shudder to think of what would have happened if I hadn't been able to stop. I would have T-boned the woman's car, with the impact coming on the child's side.
The rest of the way home I thought about near misses. If I had dropped my niece off one second earlier, would the situation have turned out much worse? Or if I had dropped her off ten seconds earlier, I wouldn't even have had to hit the breaks because I would have been through the intersection by the time the woman approached it.
While I can't come close to fully comprehending it, I totally trust in God's providence. Sometimes that means car accidents happen and people are hurt or worse. Sometimes that means accidents are avoided. But none of that limits human responsibility. Life can change (or end) in an instant. And knowing that ought to make all of us a little more appreciative of each moment we do have.
