CALLING
DAD FOR HELP

Topics: Communication; Crisis; Dependence on God; Desperation; Faith; Family; God as Father; Help from God; Needs; Prayer; Trust

References: Psalm 46:1; 1 Peter 5:7

While kayaking in southern England off the Isle of Wight, Mark Ashton-Smith, a lecturer at Cambridge University, capsized in treacherous waters. Clinging to his craft and reaching for his cell phone, Ashton-Smith, thirty-three, called his dad.

It didn’t matter that his father, Alan Pimm-Smith, was training British troops in Dubai 3,500 miles away. Without delay, the father relayed his son’s Mayday to the Coast Guard nearest to his son. Within twelve minutes, a helicopter retrieved the grateful Ashton-Smith.

Like this kayaker, when we are in peril, our first impulse should be to call our Father—the one we trust to help us.

—“Capsized Man Phones for Help 3,500 Miles Away,” Reuters News Agency (September 11, 2001)