Seventy years ago this week, a 19-year-old kid was an eyewitness to history. Fifteen feet behind General Douglas Mac Arthur, Eddie stood at attention on the Battleship Missouri anchored in the middle of Tokyo Bay.

Eddie’s teenage innocence and youthful naivety was camouflaged by his khaki uniform. While his Uncle Sam viewed him as a man, Eddie’s racing heart reminded him he was but a boy missing his mother.

I know this story well. It’s my dad’s story. That overcast September day seven decades ago was a life-defining moment for my father. It was a moment frozen in time that provided him a unique perspective of the world, human nature and the complexities of compromise. Days before his death seven years ago, my dad continued to reflect on the events to which he was privy.

As I look back on my 63 years, I am reminded of life-defining moments that have served to put my life into perspective.

Thirty-two years ago this month, I sat beside my wife, Wendy, in the birthing center of a hospital in California. The nurse wired up the monitor that measured the baby’s heart rate. She then left us alone for what would likely be several hours of waiting.

When I noticed that whenever a contraction was recorded, the baby’s heart rate dropped dramatically, I anxiously raced out of the room to find the nurse.

As a result, our daughter was born via an emergency C-section. As the doctor delivered her, he discovered the cord wrapped tightly around her neck. Had I not noticed the monitor, Kristin Nicole would not have survived.

That day taught me that life is fragile and should be cherished.

So what is a life-defining moment in your life? The day you graduated from college? The day you were hired for your first real job? The day you promised a lifetime of love at the front of a church? The day you were given a death sentence by a doctor who announced a terminal diagnosis? The day you quit your stressful, well-paying job in order to work for substantially less to do what you love?

Each of us have moments of the past that have played a key part in shaping the persons we’ve become. While those who were eyewitnesses to the end of a World War remember this week, why not take time to recall the life-defining moments in your life?

Pastor Greg is a regular contributor to the Reporter.