S.O.S.!

You probably know that S.O.S. is a distress signal used to seek attention and to call for help. You probably would have heard that it is thought to stand for ‘Save Our Souls’, too.

We’ve all cried out for help and some point in our lives. Maybe you shrieked when you tripped, ripped your jeans and caused a bloody gash in your knee. Maybe you couldn’t answer a Mathematics question which you’ve pondered over for an hour, so you look to your class brain for help. Maybe you simply ran out of cash, and so you had to go to your parents, put on a pitiful look and ask them for extra cash, even though they just gave you your monthly allowance the week before.

And maybe, you’ve turned to God for help. Once, maybe twice, when you had nowhere else left to turn to. Maybe it was when your mum went for that test to see if she had cancer, and no one else could help you, so you turned to God with an S.O.S., for both your mother and yourself. Maybe it was when you went for that interview, and you didn’t know what else to prepare, because try as you might, you have no way of telling what you would be asked the next day, so you send an S.O.S. to God, asking for wisdom and peace, and for nice interviewers.

But apart from that occasional S.O.S. for the times when you’ve lost control of everything, when do you actually seek God? When did you last say "Hi" to God and talk to Him, just because you wanted to? When was the last time you loved Him, not because of what He can bless you with, but for who He is?

For some of you, being far away from home is difficult and trying, because the people you love aren’t there with you, and sometimes all you want to do is sit and talk with them. And so you get homesick, missing everything from your favourite blanket to your Mom’s cooking to that shopping mall which you are oh-so-familiar with, When was the last time you ever felt that way with God? When was the last time you felt the need to just talk to God because you love Him?

How often do you remember Him? On Sundays? On Christmas Day? When your exams are around the corner, and you feel like the weight of the world is upon your shoulder?

In contrast to our fickle nature and transient love for God, He loves us all the time, regardless of what we have done and where we are in life. You could be a drug addict who’s mind is constantly in another dimension, and He’ll still love you as much as He loves the pastor from the church down the road.

You might have just failed your exams, and you feel bitter, frustrated, thinking that you are the biggest failure in town, but He’ll still love you as much as He loves the smartest, most talented boy in town.

You could be dressed in clothes from the nearby pasar malam, and He’ll still love you as much as He loves the girl who sashays around in the latest Gucci outfit.

All He asks for, is that we love Him as our first love, and that we don’t just seek Him when we want His help, but that we seek Him all the time. Like a doting father who yearns for a good relationship with his children, so does God want to build a relationship with us which is based on love, and not our needs. Yes, He’s our God and He’s the King of Kings, but we don’t have to go through all the formalities to seek an audience with Him. We can simply come the way we are, devoting our hearts and lives unto Him.

You can talk about the simple things, like that crush that won’t go away, or a fear that you can’t seem to lose. You can bring your biggest troubles, and stutter your way through your prayer, but He’ll patiently listen to it all. He just loves you that much!