In football, the saying is that it's a game of inches. Athletes pile up massive stats, but championships are won at the margins of inches gained. Some philosophers extol the idea that the flaps of a butterfly's wings can trigger a ripple effect that leads to a hurricane. Whatever measurement you use, the series of events that saved Donald Trump's life on July 13, 2024, were so detached that only the Hand of Providence could have caused it.

In an interview with the New York Post, Trump said, "The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle... I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead,' Trump said. 'I'm supposed to be dead.'"

The Post added, "[The Doctor] said [Trump] would be [dead] if he had not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigrants. At that instant, what would have been a kill shot instead tore off a small piece of his ear and splattered blood on his forehead and cheek."

If you've seen the photos of the event, the movement is subtle but unquestionable. New York Times reporter Doug Millsmanaged to capture the bullet streaking past Trump's head. Trump was feeling his ear seconds later. The Times had an FBI Special Agent assess the photo who agreed with what the photographer caught.

It's a measurement of millimeters. If Trump's head were positioned one way, he'd be dead. Because he happened to turn at just the right moment, he's only dealing with gunshot wounds to his ear.

But our happenstances don't stop there. If you pivot across the scene to the shooter, another event happened. Audience members were pointing to the would-be assassin on the roof of the building with a rifle. While the shooter was aiming, a police officer tried to respond.

Reports indicate that "police were notified and one officer climbed a ladder to investigate, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. The officer – whose department had been enlisted by the Secret Service to help with security — encountered [the shooter], who pointed his AR-style rifle at them."

After that, "The officer then backed down the ladder, and Crooks immediately took aim and loosed about eight shots at the former president – grazing him in the ear, killing one bystander in the rally crowd, and gravely wounding two others, the source said."

In short, the shooter wasn't able to take careful aim. Police presence and observant attendees pushed him to move faster. And that shift in plans coincided with Trump's head movement.

We will have ample time to examine the security failures of the Secret Service, police, and everything else related to this event. There are many questions, and Congress is wisely investigating everything.

But for now, we should be eternally grateful that Donald Trump's life and America's future were spared at that moment.

This has already been an election year that's wanted to revisit the trials and tribulations of 1968. The Democratic Convention has had party insiders walking on eggshells around an aging and increasingly frail President. Protests in the street have been violent, with racial targeting of Jews being especially prominent.

But on July 13, 2024, God spared this country from the worst parts of 1968: assassinations. That year featured the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy—crazed lunatics in both situations, whose killings ripped at the fabric of the country even further.

Whatever the ultimate depraved motive of the assassin in Trump's case, his goal was killing Trump. He tried to fire off a kill shot at the former President, and only through a series of events hundreds of feet away did that get prevented. The shooter very nearly succeeded. That is a sobering thought that should cause some level of reflection.

The United States was millimeters away from having a radically different moment. We avoided that purely by the Hand of God acting on our behalf that day. We've had a few of those moments, too: The Congressional baseball field shooting, an assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and now Donald Trump.

It may be July, but it's a good time to celebrate an early Thanksgiving in the United States. This election has many more miles to go, but we should thank God for helping us now and acknowledge His presence in all things.

The Founding Generation credited Providence for guiding them. We need to do the same because that same Hand saved us over the weekend from an alternate reality that is grim to consider. Let us hope the inches, millimeters, and moments of Providence continue falling in our favor.