I’ve been thinking about deep water the past month or so — both literally and figuratively. The reason? I went through a time recently where I felt like “I was in over my head.” I’ll explain in a minute or two or five — depending on your reading speed.

In thinking about this deep water thing, my mind went back to an event from 1982. That summer, I turned 30 years old while on a cross country trip in a Volkswagen bus “Campmobile.” We had our first child, Jackson, with us. He was almost 2 years old. We also had a 6-year-old nephew with us — Jimmy.

We were overnighting at campgrounds as we made our way back and forth between Utah to Connecticut where my wife’s parents lived. It was a fun trip.

When my church bishop heard me mention this story, he said he pictured me in bell-bottom jeans and driving a van with flowers on it. I told him that might have been an accurate image — but 10 or 15 years earlier. But, more accurately, we might have been listening to Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” at high volume on the cassette tape deck.

Anyway, when we got to a campground where the timing worked out that going swimming was an option, Jimmy was excited. We let him hurry and get into his swimming suit and off we went to the nearby pool.

With no hesitation, Jimmy got a little running start and leaped far out into the pool — the deep end. I was impressed with his courage and enthusiasm.

Then, as he came up and surfaced, the truth surfaced with him — he couldn’t swim. He flailed around for what seemed like an adequate time to regain any swimming training. Things didn’t change. No training was regained.

I quickly resigned myself to the fact that someone had to go in and save the day. A quick look at my wife gave me the message that it would have to be me. My Boy Scout training kicked in. I jumped in, fully clothed, and saved the kid and the day. I was probably as half-drowned as he was.

The incident didn’t really lessen Jimmy’s eagerness for swimming. The little episode was all in a day’s adventure — no big deal. That kid is now a successful dentist — drowning people with mouth rinsing and suction.

Now I’ll tell you about the “being in over my head” metaphor that I’ve experienced lately. I got asked to “take the reins” and be in charge of activities at my church.

Not wanting to be a shirker, and wanting to do my part, I wholeheartedly, with firm commitment, responded, “OK, I think I kinda sorta might be able to probably, most likely, maybe do that” (something along those lines, anyway) That response seemed to be adequate.

“Oh, and Merrill, the asking leader said, “we’ve got a Christmas Dinner Social coming up on December 3rd. We’ll (you’ll) need to get going on that right away.”

That was the moment I felt a bit like I was thrown into the middle of the deep end of the pool. Within a few days, I got more into the details of what was needed to plan a dinner party for 300 people on a semi-tight budget. That’s when it felt more like the pool I had been tossed into was the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. (If you don’t know or remember, that is the deepest part of the ocean. It’s about 36,000 feet deep. That’s nearly 7 miles.)

There were circumstances that necessitated the “short fuse” timing of me being asked to do the assignment. I really don’t blame anyone. But I still felt like I was out of my depth. But, I also knew that I could drown in an inch of water in the bathtub.

The fabulous good news is that people “jumped in” to “save me.” When the call went out, many “answered the bell” — young and old, male and female, those who felt sorry for me and those who were just glad they didn’t have my job.

They volunteered (with more pep than me) to roast meat (150 pounds), peel, cook and mash potatoes (120 pounds), make gravy, heat beans, make salads, fetch brownies and cookies, do decorations, and on and on. Whew! I did get saved! (If you’re reading this, and you helped with “my party” — Thanks Again!)

And, oh, by the way, there are other real “deep water” stories in my family, including one involving me. As a young boy, I was in over my head literally — in an irrigation pond. I had to literally be saved by an older cousin.

I guess if today’s column has a moral, it would be this. There are people around us who are figuratively in the “deep end of the pool over their heads.” They are “out of their depth.”

It might be financial problems. It may be health issues. It could be family dysfunction. Some people might have more demands and struggles going on than any person can reasonably be expected to handle.

Those situations, especially at this extra demanding time of year, should be noticed by us. There are organizations who are helping people in those kinds of circumstances. We all need to “jump in” and do some “saving” — even if we’re comfortable and fully clothed and don’t want to get wet. — Merrill