Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Like me, you have probably never been faced with the situation of having to make a ‘Mayday’ call?  For those who like boats it is part of the training to stay safe, in fact for over 80 years it has been recognised as the international distress signal to be used by people in ‘grave and imminent danger’.

I did wonder if the May Day holiday was somehow related; and of course it isn’t!  The ‘Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!’ phrase (yes, you are meant to repeat it three times) is apparently an anglicised version of the French ‘m’aider’ that means ‘help me’.  You just hope that if you ever made such a call that the best possible person would receive the message and respond with urgency, control and calm reassurance.  You might remember the hapless Tony Hancock as the amateur radio ham struggling to find a pencil when he picked up a mayday signal, while the poor yachtsman was wishing if only the right person had been there!

It can be a bit like that for all of us in the storms of life.  Sometimes it can feel like we are sinking and all alone, believing that there is no-one to hear a distress call.  Well there is! In the Bible we get a great story of Peter having a ‘Mayday!’ moment when he tried to walk on the water just like Jesus.  No sooner had he cried out ‘save me’, Jesus immediately put out his hand and caught him.

The Bible clearly tells us that without Jesus we are all in ‘grave and imminent danger’ and he is the saviour to all those who call on his name.  His calm and reassuring voice continues to be broadcast.  Perhaps you need to tune in to his frequency and think about making that call?

Useful Bible passage to look up:  Matthew ch 14 vs 22-33

Photos by Rob Pumphrey and Lachlan Gowen on Unsplash